KORUNYE farmers residing near the banks of the Light River and main railway corridor are fed up with the lack of drainage that continues to threaten their properties during floods.
More recently, floodwaters peaked for 16 hours after super-storms in late September, while upstream at Redbanks it only peaked for two hours.
The three-metre high railway embankment created a ‘wall’ for the water – particularly because of a lack of culverts and drainage – which then flowed onto nearby properties.
The group of Lower North farmers believe the culverts are too small and too few, having to be subjected to several damaging floods since the rail track was built almost 100 years ago.
The Verner family almost lost their home in the floods two months ago and have been calling for more drainage for years.
Irene Verner said they had experienced a serious flood “every five to 10 years”.
“There has been no sign the culverts have handled any floods and it is sabotaging a major freight route and increasingly damaging people’s livelihoods,” she said.
“The railway is 100 years old next April, and the history of these severe floods is almost as long, with the first in 1923.”
Ms Verner said the infrastructure was designed for a one-in-20-year flood, and there had been ‘no attempt’ by the Australian Rail Track Corporation to modernise the ageing infrastructure.
“They just patched up the damage,” she said.
“They’ve said themselves that infrastructure more than 100 years old is past its use-by date.”
Ms Verner said it was “distressing” to feel uneasy every time heavy rain was forecast.
While there are sufficient culverts on the Gawler River, the Light River had been “forgotten”, according to Ms Verner.
“Money needs to be spent on prevention, not constantly picking up the clean up bill,” she said.
“There is $30 million for the National Resources Management board, it’s time to spend it.
“When Malcolm Turnbull visited Virginia in October, he called for more disaster mitigation, let’s just get it done.”
According to locals, trains had also decreased speeds in the area since the floods due to underlying track damage.
Broadacre farmer Richard Verner, and Ms Verner’s brother, said the flood had caused a cut to potential yields by up to a half.
While the final tally of damage will not be known until after harvest, Mr Verner believes his bill could be upwards of $250,000 after having 1000 hectares of his 1800ha enterprise under water.
“We’re still working it out and we won’t know until the end of harvest, but it could be as much as a quarter of a million. The cropping and fencing is one thing, the other longer term costs are cleanup, weeds,” he said.
Fellow Korunye farmer Gary Hunt said it was frustrating that ‘nothing ever gets sorted’, after being left with a $80,000 clean up bill.
“I’ve never seen a flood this high. The fences were 4 feet under water,” he said.
Member for Goyder Steven Griffiths said the infrastructure needed urgent attention to prevent another damaging flood.
“The community are sick of it, and action needs to be taken,” he said.
In response, Australian Rail Track Corporation said recent super-storms resulted in widespread weather emergencies, power outages and high river levels across the Lower North region, and the flooding afterwards was not a consequence of the railway line.
“The impact of the flooding was demonstrated by multiple road closures and road washaways at the time, and the continued repair of many local roads in the area today,” an ARTC spokesperson said.
“The railway culverts in this location are appropriate and fit-for-purpose and are still in good condition following a large weather event.
“We understand flooding concerns are always a complex and sensitive issue to landowners, but changes in infrastructure may cause water flow issues upstream or downstream and ARTC has no plans to change the infrastructure in this location.”
The spokesperson said there were temporary speed restrictions for trains after the flooding, while maintenance work was undertaken.
“Restrictions have been removed for some weeks and the rail line is in good condition and continues to operate well for our customers,” the spokesperson said.
A Department of Environment, Water and Natural Resources spokesperson said they were available to provide advice on managing weeds and other vegetation.
