River Murray Flood Advice - As at 17/11/22
Published 17th November 2022
The Department for Infrastructure and Transport has advised that Bookpurnong Road is expected to be closed between Berri and Kemp Road within the next week - potentially as soon as this weekend - due to rising water levels.
Signage will be installed to advise road users of the detour route, which will be via Stanitzki Road to Sturt Highway, through Paringa and Renmark and onto Old Sturt Highway, Berri. Motorists can still access Kingston Road, Moorook for travel routes between towns.
While this detour will add significant travel time for locals, the closure of Bookpurnong Road is required for the safety of the community.
The Department will keep roads open as long as safely possible, however other roads are likely to close in the coming weeks, including ferry access roads, as water levels continue to rise.
Maps showing roads expected to close at different water levels will be available later this week on the Department for Infrastructure and Transport’s website at www.dit.sa.gov.au.
Detour routes for these potential road closures will also be available later this week, to provide alternative road travel options for locals that need to travel across the region and allow the transport of essential supplies, commodities and services to continue to reach communities.
Ferries
Currently, all River Murray ferries remain open, however the Department is closely monitoring the impacts of the high water flows across all 11 ferry crossings.
The Waikerie ferry crossing will be the first to be impacted, with the lower landing unable to operate when the river depth exceeds 9.2 metres – which is expected to occur within the next week.
Works have been completed to install landing infrastructure and clear vegetation to ensure the Waikerie ferry is ready for service at the high flow ramp once water levels reach 9.6 metres.
There will be a short period where no ferry service can operate at Waikerie, while the ferry is moved from the lower to the higher landing.
This changeover may take up to 2-3 days, however every effort will be made to reduce this timeframe.
Use of the higher ramp ferry will be initially restricted to light vehicles only with single lane operations and increased to double lane operations and all vehicle types (excluding B-Double permitted vehicles) once the water depth reaches 10 metres.
A number of other ferries will be affected in coming weeks, with the Morgan, Lyrup, Mannum and Walker Flat ferries considered at highest risk of closure due to flood conditions and rising river levels. As much advance notice as possible will be provided for any ferry closures.
Ferry locations and their current operational status can be found here: http://www.sa.gov.au/.../ferry-locations-and-operational...