The Bureau of Meteorology is now aligned with the national warning service and provide flood warnings for minor, moderate and major flood conditions along the Murray.
The warning service came into effect on October 26 and has been developed by the South Australian Department of Environment and Water, the Murray Darling Basin Authority, the South Australian State Emergency Service, SA Water and councils.
In addition the SASES will continue to provide impact based flood warning advice for the entire River Murray in SA and messaging to local communities.
The shift had been in the process of planning well before the 2022-23 flood, but was then put on hold while the necessary agencies responded to the event.
Manager of hazard preparedness & response in South Australia Kylie Egan said the change would lead to all communities along the Murray River receive the same warnings and forecasting service.
"A consistent, Basin-wide flood forecasting and warning service helps emergency services and local councils to continue to provide vital support to local communities when preparing for, and responding to flood events," she said.
All the warning information provided will also be consistent with other rivers and catchments in SA, but Ms Egan said people should still remain informed with the latest forecasts on the BOM website and weather app.
"The BOM Weather app has warning notifications available for locations within 5km of a flood warning area," she said.
"We recommend users activate notifications on the BOM Weather app to receive the latest warning information for your area. This ensures you receive the information you need when you need it.
"You can view an area's warnings at any time. Select the location in the BOM Weather app or view all current warnings from the app's warnings screen."
DEW Water Delivery Manager Chrissie Bloss said the department was pleased River Murray communities could access flood information through a single source.
"It's important that flood predictions and warnings can be accessed as easily as possible," she said.
"We've worked closely with the Bureau in developing this new service and we are confident that River Murray communities will benefit from this new approach."
When in times of a flood Ms Bloss said DEW would continue to provide updates on river conditions and flow forecasts in weekly flow reports and high flow advice, but would stop publishing forecast flood levels.
The DEW is also expected to remain the source for flood mapping, while it would update the River Murray flood modelling to incorporate observations in river behaviour seen in the 2022-23 floods.
As prediction of flood levels in the lakes is complex due to the influence of tide, weather, barrage operations and the condition of the Murray Mouth, the DEW DEW will also provide flood forecasts for the Lower Lakes.
To source information regarding floods, people should visit the the Bureau's website, the SASES website www.ses.sa.gov.au and social media platforms, the DEW flow reports and local councils.
