David Hasset
David Hasset led his council through a four-week sprint to save a flooded region, then learned the harder lesson: protecting your own people matters as much as protecting the town.
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David Hasset moved to the Riverlands in 1989 as a young family man looking for work in roads and infrastructure. He never left. Over thirty years, he watched the Murray become the heartbeat of the region: a lifeblood for tourism, recreation, and the towns that line its banks. When the forecast arrived in 2022, it escalated week by week. Four to six weeks' warning. Not enough time, and far more water than anyone had planned for.
As director of infrastructure, David led his council through something that had no playbook. The team built levies to protect Madam's main street, but that meant leaving some riverside buildings on the wrong side of the barrier. He held public meetings to give people time to understand what was coming and evacuate. His crew ran pumps 24 hours a day on both sides of the levies to stop summer storms from backing water up into the town they were trying to save. The focus was absolute: one goal, one team, everything else put aside. His own CEO worked through New Year's Eve venting pumps to keep them running.
Two years later, the cleanup is still underway. Roads need resurfacing, shelters sit with missing roofs, caravan parks remain closed as insurance and funding processes crawl forward. David learned something harder than any operational lesson: his team gave everything to the response, but they looked outward, not back at themselves. Their own wellbeing got overlooked. Now, council has mapped the flood in detail, photographed every metre, built a database for the next time. The river is still glass-smooth on quiet mornings, still wild with hundreds of boats on weekends. But the Riverlands knows what it is capable of, and what it costs.
“When you've actually got one core focus being the flood response it's amazing how dynamic and how much direction you can get from your teams and your environment around that focus on just that one element.”
“That's one of the things I think we learned from this is our own well-being, our own support that we probably neglected a little bit.”
“We had people from all other departments putting their hand up to go and help us on the round the clock. So that was just internally and that's actually built some pretty strong relationships within the council as well.”
The hero, today
When council leadership narrowed their focus to a single shared purpose during the flood, teams across departments worked with clarity and direction they could not have found any other way. David and his team built levies that protected the main street of Madam but left some riverside buildings on the wrong side; he held public meetings beforehand to give people time to understand and evacuate. The flood response required 24-hour pump operations on both sides of the levies to prevent summer storms from backing water up into the town, and David's own CEO worked through New Year's Eve to help run those pumps. Two years after the flood, David says the cleanup has been bigger than the response itself, with roads still needing work, shelters missing roofs, and some caravan parks still closed because insurance and funding processes have been slow. David and his staff gave everything to the flood response but overlooked their own wellbeing in the process; he learned that supporting people through crisis means looking back at yourself too.
Yes. David Hasset is a real person who shared their own story in their own words. Kintsugi Heroes is a not-for-profit that shares first-person stories of overcoming adversity, told with the person's consent.
Kintsugi Heroes, a registered Australian not-for-profit. Every story is shared with the hero's own consent and reviewed under Kintsugi Heroes' trauma-informed content standard before it goes public.
When council leadership narrowed their focus to a single shared purpose during the flood, teams across departments worked with clarity and direction they could not have found any other way.
David and his team built levies that protected the main street of Madam but left some riverside buildings on the wrong side; he held public meetings beforehand to give people time to understand and evacuate.
The flood response required 24-hour pump operations on both sides of the levies to prevent summer storms from backing water up into the town, and David's own CEO worked through New Year's Eve to help run those pumps.
Kinugi Heroes brings you the following River Murray flood recovery story jointly funded by the Commonwealth and South Australian governments under the disaster recovery funding arrangements. To find out more about this podcast, head to kugiheroes.com.au. The 2022 River Murray floods in South Australia were caused by record water inflows from the Murray Darling Basin due to heavy upstream rainfall. The slowly rising flood waters inundated homes, businesses, and farmland causing widespread displacement, infrastructure damage, and agricultural losses. The disaster significantly impacted local economies, communities, and led to the region's long-term recovery. In this special limited series of Kinsuki heroes, John Milum sits down with members of the Riverlands community and gives them space to share their experiences of their personal adversity and community resilience. It's only through connection and empathy that there can be a path to recovery. In this episode of River Murray Recovery Stories, John Milum is joined by David Hasset. As the director of infrastructure in the Midm Murray region, David found himself as the center of the flood response efforts. With a keen understanding of the land, he coordinated teams in building levies, managing sandbag efforts, and maintaining vital services amidst rising waters. David's dedication shone through long hours and problem solving alongside his team and community partners. Through this shared experience, David's commitment and leadership provided an example of outstanding service to the local community. Join us as we delve into his story of adaptability and collaboration. So ladies and gentlemen um and friends and followers in Kugi Hero uh once again welcome to a podcast a Kugi Heroes podcast uh where we again talk about with people from the river Murray region uh about their experience in the 2022 floods which were uh significant and um and played a a major had a major impact on the area. So, and today uh again we are blessed to welcome somebody who was basically up to his armpits in in soil right for most of the stuff a man central to so much of the uh midmarray response to the flood and of course uh a local who had his own concerns so uh David Hasset director of infrastructure and um fuel services ah beautiful in Midmarray Council. Um, welcome mate. So good to have you on. No, thanks John. Thanks very much for your and yeah, thanks thanks very much for following up with us. It's it's a pleasure mate. Fantastic stuff. And I have to uh have to acknowledge all the listeners that um uh I we met when I was down there and you kindly took me around uh your knowledge and you know what I I really liked mate was um just how much you cared about the land, right? I I I could hear it in your voice and the way you knew things and the people you met and so on. So that was like So tell me is that because you know of your association is that who you are like the you know is the river an important part in your lot? Um yeah I suppose um I actually moved up the river Murray area the town a little ter back in about 1989 and um yeah um my wife at the time and we were just bring it with our first child. So, uh, I still actually have the property in Bastian and, uh, yeah, so the river's been pretty, uh, kind to me for quite some time. Um, I've lived along the river. Yeah. So, a relatively good knowledge around that part of the uh, the area. Uh, also lived in the Midmar Council area and I worked elsewhere and about seven years ago, I was fortunate enough to get a job back in Midmar area. So, it's been it's been part of I suppose what draw me up. And so, mate, 1989, young family, you you move to what is, you know, I've described it before as a very tough place to live sometimes. So, there's the the wonder and and the gifts of the river, but it's not an easy place to live. What What brought you Why did you think a young family would thrive there? Um I suppose I was lucky enough to gain a job in the government in that area and uh that was my background at the time was into roads and infrastructure and uh so by actually moving to that area um as a young family I thought it might have been a stepping stone initially but uh end up living here for what's been over 30 odd years. Uh so it's been it's been a great experience. Well, it's stepping stone to being crucial to uh so much of what happens around you know the midmarray so Blanchtown man you know Murray bridge all um did however I do have to I have to um ask you what I think the place you live nor every day is one of is my favorite town name in the country right so Nuria right which is closer to just, you know, inland from the river. It's just, you know, close to the wine region. Yeah. Does that uh a little a little bit of a run out to the wine region? You know, is that uh you know, a benefit or a bit of a pain? Yeah, it's definitely a benefit. Yeah, the Bruss has brup is located a beautiful wine region. Uh so yeah, it's a very very nice place with the wineries on the weekends and some gym places as well. So no, it's a very very high tourist approach area. Yeah. And it so it's got to be a big magnet to like if I was you it' take a lot to pull me out of it. So but Nuri up is a great place to put on your on your envelopes mate. So um yeah and of course you still you still have prop you know place in Blanchtown and so on which is an which is an amazing place. So how do you feel what do you feel about the river right? What what what is the river to you? Um it's it's basically the heart of um probably midmar to to an extent uh because it is very very uh attractive to Adelaide. Um I mean blush is only 120k iss probably an hour and a quarter from Adelaide. Um where people come up on day trips there's a lot of shacks or what you call holiday homes along the river. is the population just booms and the river is is such a life plant of this area uh that everyone here likes to utilize the river. I mean uh for myself in um I do put a boat but I got to wait till everyone leaves so I can put the boat in because it it's it's almost like um what you think is is a massive highway when all the boats are there jets keys and everything. It is very much a lifeblood of the area and a great um area that draws people in just for really use. It's great. Really is house boats. Um yeah, and the ski jet skis and just just the real life. It's really nice. It's quite interesting. Um, it's kind a little bit strange to like be down on the edge and to see like streets and shops supporting uh houses and and essentially, you know, house boats as well, right? Sitting there. It's kind of a weird thing, but you know, very, you know, it's a you know, like a a normal way that it's set up there. So yeah, the rivers um yeah very dynamic um the river and when I went up there I saw the river flood back in 89 uh 90. So nowhere near what it was for the uh 22 flood but then I've also seen drought where physically you can actually walk across the river um and I think I went about neck deep in one one channel and the rest of you about knee deep. You set me on sandbar so it's a very dynamic environment. It's unbelievable. So mate, what what do you do at the council? So as director of infrastructure, etc. Yeah, my role here is uh is basically looking after all the works uh all the infrastructure works that Chessa does with from a garbage collection uh through to parks and gardens through to the road network. We've got the second largest road network in the state on York. Um we got a lot of shack areas uh very uh affluent areas u where there's multi-million dollar buildings being built with flat name uh obviously at height but yeah my role is uh I've got a great outside staff and inside staff and uh yeah they they are fantastic and us as a team we just live up to everything that is possible within the towns I hope you're getting enough sleep, right? I I imagine you didn't get a lot in 2022. As you said, you had seen the river at high water previously and also at low water. What were your initial thoughts when uh you know, the word went out that there was going to be another event in in 22? you you again there that was a very dynamic situation because there was um we're relying a lot on um the intelligence that was coming through the intel from government departments and I suppose when leading into it there was um what suggested river levels and we thought was going to be a high flow you know like a major flood and then it's actually started escalating towards the end of 22 it escalated to beyond what everyone's capacity was uh the state government ended up calling a e emergency response jobs. Uh we're already into our response at that point in time building levies um and trying to protect obviously some town uh town infrastructure and businesses within Madam and also in Morgan as well. Um but then also notifying the community of what was going to happen because there was a sense of disbelief about how much was actually was going to come out, the amount of water was going to come down and it just it took every surprise. I think even the lead time into uh the announcements as to when the flows were going to increase, we probably only had like a four to six week um uh window to actually then change our course of direction. So um yeah through that uh through the flood apart from trying to I suppose put it put everything in place to try and protect of the town and prevent that flow from the river back up into the townships through storm water drains. We still had business as usual. So we had to gr our road anyway. We had to go visit all our towns. We had to set everything in and when the flood actually hit the all the fairies closed. So basically it was about 100 km gap from Blanchtown and Gadell down to Murray Bridge where the community couldn't cross the river. They could not access either side. So it was an massive event for you for the for the whole region. Yeah. Wow. Wow. I I I want to ask you a little bit more about that um yeah that pre you know feeling but uh there is one thing I want to clean up. I I think a lot of people have mentioned at some point uh as I've you done some interviews about seeing a barbecue in a gas bottle floating down the river. Right. And I'm I'm getting to the bottom of this like either that that happened a lot or that one barbecue like traversed the entire flood flood. Right. So, first of all, was it your one of yours? And uh and second of all, you know, did it actually happen, do you reckon? No, it's and that's probably what uh took a lot of people was surprised because when the first element of the flood was being announced, uh a lot of people just lifted their roller doors by about say 3 ft. That was about all. And then all the road networks went out and then all of a sudden uh the next level was was forecast and the next level was forecast. So no one can actually get back in and a lot of people ended up sorry going back in by boats to try to put everything up on the first floor of the uh of their shacks and some people just locked up and walked away and of course left everything under the shack and that's exactly what happened. There was gas bottles and barbecues at rainwater tanks um all floating down the river and at heart rate of knots. So there was a lot of debris, massive amount of debris but it wasn't mine. Um yeah, I know we had to take all our community barbecues prior to it because uh obviously we had uh a lot of electric destruction near the river. So all that come out. So we were we were okay. We had to put all that in. So yeah, a lot of private um debris went down the river with wash. It was incredible. Wow. I can't believe how many people have mentioned something like that. Um I I I want to you know that ear that time early uh you know sort of half halfway through the year in 22 the the forecast the warnings have started to come out. You've got your team and so on but you you know like your budget is full. You're busy you know your normal schedule's busy right and then suddenly someone says there's going to be a flood event and then every week um it becomes bigger and bigger and bigger. How what was your response personally? Did you like did you feel overwhelmed? Was it like something that you just went, "My goodness, what are we going to do?" Or would were you feeling confident that you guys would handle this? Um yeah, I don't think confidence was a word. But I suppose um when you look back what our roles are in council, we've got a very quite diverse role in this and everyone in council has so many different roles. But when the flood came about we actually had a sole focus and uh admittedly there you know some things really had to take back back seat for the whole process. But um as a team the senior med man management team got together the elected members all got together and we went through the processes what we needed to do and prioritize everything we had to do and uh and then basically try to focus on that. So I suppose when you see that we do so much across the board with so many other activities that council do when you've actually got one core focus being the flood response it's amazing how dynamic and how how much uh I wouldn't say enthusiasm enthusiasm the wrong word but direction you can get from your your teams and your environment around that focus on just that one element. It is really really good to see um what everyone can do and broadly it's not just the council there was a lot of other councils involved doing the flood response as well but the SCS the CHS and and uh everyone else the state uh we're all in it all together it was unbelievable it was it was fantastic I say it was a fantastic joint experience but fantastic is probably still the wrong word for a flat well you're like you got to take you know like it's probably you know now easier to use fantastic as than at the time but um like overall let's assess that how well did you do the I suppose the element was um for us was just trying to keep everything occupied because where when when we had a levy at the main street of man uh for um for the main reasons um to protect what was in the town we also need coming up into summer sometimes we'll have summer uh rainstorms which means then we would have had water behind the levey flooding the other area. So, we had to pumps both sides and their pumps running nearly 24 hours a day. Um, we had rosters in place where staff would go out, work overnight and uh then refill pumps, make sure pumps were still running. Um, just to try to keep everything up just everything in that sort of emergency response. Uh it was it was a process that everyone accepted and started working towards and again it was a massive team environment that uh everyone did. Um the again the SCS prepared to help us uh and and give us direction but um it was it was a process that um trying to deal with it and knowing where it wasn't I mean we got 220 linear kilometers of river. So it's 440 km of of river frontage that was actually affected. So it wasn't like it was just in one spot where you had to deal with it. We had 155 roads that went under underwater. All the shack areas were out. So it was a massive communication piece. We had a communication go went out uh to well over a thousand people um and we had our forecast were while we were doing all the links we could possibly do. So it was a massive education process to the community. Um and also um just a very um humbling experience knowing that what we when when the wood river did subside that we still had a mass amount of work to do when the flood the flood coming on was probably about 20 30% of our work. the clean up afterwards has been, you know, the remainder of the work. It's it's been a huge focus and Yeah. Absolutely. Right. And of course, it's a tough tough, you know, job to clean up after a flood. You you you mentioned you've just handed the council a report on what's left to do. How much is, you know, after 2 years, how much is left? Yeah, we've still got um u um a lot of our open space went underwater. So it hasn't really really recovered so cuz it was a lot of uh clay content um on the ground as well. Um so every work that went up there uh we've got a a clay silty content in some of our road be work at camping areas. Um so we're about to do sort of work. I think we got we just got another grant for a couple of billion dollars where we're going to top dress all our Lords where we been able to address them. Um then there's the camping areas which when it rains it actually gets quite boggy because of the seal content especially on on the area. So we're going to be able to rest in those. We probably got still about 20 odd kilometers of unsealed roads which are in the uh lower lower part of the region which still have s content. Um and then we've we've also got some um shelters shoulders that actually went under as well. So we've got some accelerated rust in a lot of those shelters. Um so yeah it's a lot of work still to do. Um but yeah again trying to not use our business as usual money to try to do the remediation um because we still got business as usual to do with their normal normal work. So still a lot to do. Councils um and people like yourself are often the target of a of you know some community asking for you know why aren't you helping us? Why aren't you responding? Why aren't you doing this work? How do you feel that that side of things has been for the you know for the flood and then post flood the cleanup? Yeah, I suppose some people don't take a great view of councils. They they do a bit of a deep view of councils and I suppose we're we're no orphans in that area. But what we actually know is because we started 22 when we knew the flood forecast were coming, we actually started notifying u the shack associations here and started saying well you know you need to be prepared. So what we did was we we actually went out sandbags, we actually allow some people to take other sandbags um and leading up to August to right through November, we're actually carting sand to various principal sites. So yeah, we actually fill those sandbags and they actually do what they needed to do. That was before we found out the full forecast um with their newsletters and probably with some of our contact we made with them. It actually I actually built better relationships you know prior to that everyone saw council as you know just you know council take you money you get nothing for your rates andly uh but um I've actually uh through some of our contact with some of the associations I believe we actually got a very good recall with a lot of it now uh because I think um they would notify us and say well you know okay our road's closed but we need to open it up so we can actually physically go down the road and use that road as a b ramp so into their shacks. So we we go a lot of assistance around that area. So it there was a lot of community involvement. There was a lot of people looked to us as a council to I suppose get the uh place of truth about what was happening and uh obviously with our newsletters that was going out and they were actually going out to other council areas and people were picking up on those. So there was there was a a bit of a bonding sort of uh process through the whole flat because everyone has experienced that you've known different ways and um out of that I think there's been some really good relationships here. It has been actually very rewarding to be honest about what some of the relationships were like prior to blood but now what's a lot yeah like people know you on a first day basis who we are so we sort of help people would help help them and they've helped us. That's fantastic. So that um in terms of the uh you know the silver linings right some of the community you know uh engagement and and collaboration is come out of it like yeah yeah um and I suppose it wasn't really just the people that were absolutely flood affected. I mean we still had garbage collections we had to um bring like when roads were cut we had to bring the make sure people got their bing back up to another location to get the bings picked up for garbage collection. So there was a lot of conversations had with so many broader communities just so we could actually still deliver services and there was a lot of people just driving around that the the area was all were tourists because they haven't seen the flood because so there was another element there and uh where people would come in and turn around. We had traffic control in the main street man because there people driving into main street man couldn't go any further because the road was blocked and then they turn around and go back here. So it was it was a big draw card but um uh but the community had really benefited from I suppose. Yeah. And we we benefited from I suppose from the continuity we've been able to build with some of the chef associations. It's been pretty good. Fantastic. So I guess like um it's a you know the Riverland and Murray land you know the river Murray you go it's a long windy and um there are a number of settlements and they each have their own character. Do you feel like you know and you you were looking after one end of the river. Do you feel like you guys work together that all you know people have a common goal? Is that Michael? Yeah. Um at the at the peak of the flood, basically we had what was a zest which is a a zone emergency support team. Um and that was run by um uh the local uh SEO superintendent and he was excellent. Um and this Scott Denn and basically what he did was uh every week we would get on a zoom meeting and we all talk about it. Basically, uh, the Department of Environment of Water would get on, the SCES would get on and they'd actually talk to all the Rland councils about what we were doing and where we were at, how we're going about it. And here there was cross council collaboration. Um, also DIT, DIT is the main state road authority here and there was obviously the fairies fairies went out there was detours had to be put in place and roads were just basically cut the whole community was cut. So there was a lot of collaboration between all the organizations. Um even with yeah uh even with um St. John's ambulance they couldn't cross the river so they had to put digits as well. The school buses couldn't cross the river so they had to put as well. So yeah there was there was a massive support team and uh yeah a lot of communication processes put in place with just about every organization uh yeah that that could probably even lead towards the area. It was it was great. So as a as a boy obviously you you were key making big decisions and you know you're privy to some of the chat but you're also you know like you you got an everyday role there as well. Did you feel like uh everything came together right? Um I I do I believe so I um I suppose it was it was very coordinated approach uh for us. Um we had what we call a uh critical inc incident management team set up. Um so within cast we had that. We also got having a senior management say and then the uh the CI brief all the elected members as as regularly as needed be. Um so there was there was uh a process put in place where we had still had to do business as usual but then had to focus on what we had to do with the flood and like I said earlier um yeah the flood when it actually started hitting it peak we had a lot of issues where there was leakages uh there was you speak and flooding in some areas and we had to you know build um levies in other spots. Um we actually had water coming up seeping under the levey under the road then bubbling up through the road. So we had to close roads. Um so yeah it was very uh yeah yeah when there's been low wall the other side and and you know your roads bubbling you think yeah we've got some problems. Um so a lot of underground steepage store left loose and and some pumps were running and hit. Obviously if we had a storm uh a rain event we had to be prepared for that too. So it was a very collaborated and coordinated approach. Um we worked with the Zest as well with the Zest team about what what how we had to do it. The SCS were always available and always on site to uh support where where we need it. So it was yeah it was a huge experience one I don't think I really want to experience again. Uh but um the the elders and the people around say these things coming too. So yeah. Wow. And of course, you know, to to ma to follow that po point, right? You know, the Murray isn't a, you know, up one night, down the next, right? So, you were dealing the lead in was long and slow and and and and surprising and the of course the exit was just as problematic. Yeah. Don't you just Weren't you just bugged? Um yeah in in in a word yes um there was a probably a fair bit of burnout from staff and probably even the community uh because it only went up for so long the river was up for quite some time. So there was a case of you know how are we going to go how is the exemption going to uh last and I suppose there was an element of burnout uh among staff and obviously the communities this community frustration because it was it just went up to such a long event and then obviously when the uh it subsided we still had levies we had mess we had everything so we kept roads closed to the best ability for about another two weeks until it didn't dried out. Um, so yeah, the the the proposal to try to get everything done in one go was really difficult and there was a massive community expectation as well like everyone wanted to get back into their properties. Um, we just tried tried, you know, try to keep it minimize the the damage as much as possible. So yeah, there was it was a big lean in time and a long lead out time. So has been uh very challenging. Yeah, very diplomatically said. You and I visited one one of the area of Paisley that and um you know we're still you know we walked in and there you know some places have been fixed up fixed up and there were still places with mud up the walls and you know rubbish in the yard. So it's it's a it's a job that's going to be you know the it'll be obvious to people for quite some time won't it? Yeah. Yeah. And and I mean that's even a bit of a surprise to us. You know, when you go in there and you can see the the watermark at the gut of the height of the shed, you just know how much water there was. It was incredible, you know, and and some people have just, you know, walked away from their properties and others have done the best they can to rebuild it and some are still rebuilding. So, yeah, it's it's a huge amount of um, you know, draw on the community and what they've actually put up with and then and like I say, it was there was a lot of disbelief it was ever going to happen. Yeah. to Paisley, Blanchtown, you know, um, Swansro, you know, cross, um, you know, those little communities there that went underwater or had elements of underwater. There's a lot of people that, uh, that would be traumatized. Have you bumped in, you know, how do you feel, you know, you guys, um, about members of your community that are sort of still getting over maybe never getting over these things? Yeah. Um you're absolutely right. Um as I said earlier, you know, we had we built some relationships with some of the associations. It probably only about six or eight months ago where I actually had a uh a first conversation with one of the association members and and he's rebuilding his shack, his family shack. And even when he was just talking about the river experience, you can hear his voice breaking. Um and that's months after. I mean, it's been two years, well over two years now since the subsided. Um there are some people who are probably a little bit bitter about um you know what actually happened and and they couldn't save everything they had in their share but yeah uh I mean the government put on a wellbeing officer here at Midmar and uh did a huge amount of work to the community right across the whole river area just to make sure that uh you know there was that element of support through the community. Um and uh there was there was yeah Red Cross came in. There was SL came in as well. There was a lot of people that were um couldn't actually live in your shack because that that was our primary home residence. Uh there was alternate living arrangements made for some. So yeah, it had a massive effect and it and still has a massive effect out in the in the community and even though like I drive through the areas now and some of the houses are either being rebuilt or have been rebuilt or some of the shacks are just still sitting there and they're just floodffected. You can just see the silk all over it. So yeah, it's had a massive effect on the community and um yeah, it's there's there's probably still a lot of people in disbelief about what actually happened. But um yeah, there's been a lot of lot of positives coming out of it as well like a lot of people actually you know rem and you rejuvenating their life by having a probably a better floodproof property within the rhythm area. Yeah, it was it was fascinating your town, Blanchtown, when I drove down by the river and down towards where the you know the houses were clearly right all the all the way under and the new places going up are like so tall right so you know hopefully that they're tall enough right but uh by the river it's a beautiful spot but uh what was interesting is you know one block has you know or they're finishing or just obviously just just finished a brand new place and right next to it is a sort of older style place. So there's that, you know, we're still covered in mud. So like clearly some are getting done and some aren't. So yeah, the u um the government through the recovery process changed the building code um because it was I think it was something like about 2.5 m above up ground level and that was that was fine. I suppose when you look at undulating ground um some of the places went over some didn't go under because it fell higher than the the next one over. So there is now a AHD level a high guard level that they now go to. So they are bu a little bit higher than what they were. Um, so, so hopefully they'll be more floodproof than what they were previously because, yeah, and you're right, there are some ground level shacks and sheds and what else. A lot of people just come in and, uh, you crew blasted or steam plank the whole area and that's their that's their holiday residence. So, without spending a lot of money on a property, they've still got their little property that they can go to. So, that's what they chose to rebuild to. But, yeah, there has been a lot of devastation. Um and but again there's still a lot lot of work for the community to do as a as a bloke who's you know like you must be driving every time you go through there you must look at something and go oh yeah that's still to do or that's not you know that's been done. Um does that um annoy you or is that challenge you or you know is it just part of the landscape? It's it's a challenge because um I suppose we haven't been able to rebuild as quick as we liked is we've obviously wanted to get external funding. We've been we've been very lucky and fortunate to get some funding. Some we didn't get. Um it it would have been really advantageous for us to receive the funding and and just keep rebuilding in a constant level and getting everything back to where it was. Um like I said, the report to council was two years on and we've still got some shelters with the roof missing because we're still going down the insurance path. We got shoulders that are rusting and now we've got uh grants to repair some of those and some grants we haven't. Um at Morgan we've got a historic wall up front at Morgan. Um that's probably is about I think the latest latest code is about two million dollars to repair Baker. Um so you know all those things the community expectation is that we're back to where we could be pre flood or even not better. Uh but unfortunately yeah it's it's it's been it's been a massive challenge not not only to the local government but uh you know just for all for everyone that's been blooded and of course the um the river Murray world you know it's a ch you know you make money on the on in land that's a tough gig you got drought you've got fire and then you know on the river you know with tourism and and you know holiday stuff and you and that you know that was cut out during the flood. So the town, you know, is has cpped, you know, some hits, you know, first of all's property and the, you know, the drama and the trauma. And then, of course, economically, it's been challenging, hasn't it? Even when you look at some of the um the the visitation areas like got um three caravan parks, one was out of the flood site, the the Baisley Caravan Park and the Blair Caravan Park. Well, they're still inoperable. They haven't opened. Um, Swan Wrench was uh was was devastated as well and there is new owners there. So, they're looking at rebuilding there. Um, the Morgan Caravan Park uh that was behind the living, but we have so much seepage coming in through the cliff face that uh yeah, damaged all the road work inside and and uh then we had uh flooding within area there. So, we had to rebuild in that. So, that's been over the last 12 months. Uh the Madden Caravan Park um that was that was behind the levy, but they've had all their issues as well. So, so we've actually lost a lot of accommodation opportunities and which is supply and effect to the uh to the shops uh to the service stations and and you know just just the the broader network that uh in the caravan parks uh you know allow for the tourism opportunities. So yeah has has a big roll on effect with um yeah some of the areas. Do you think you know obviously your you know you know your every day is to try and you know you know you know help and fix and grow the place. Do you think um there's you know has this mindset of you know the of the towns and and and countryside do you reckon they're they're there's plenty of hope? Are they positive about the place? Yeah. Um yeah I think they are and again when you start looking at some of the builders that Rashelle the building is happening so there is a lot of building happening there's a lot of um economic activity in that area there is a yeah you positive element in it um you like the the uh other local businesses that are going like the hotels and all that they still seem to be going real well so there is um you know that's um positive outlook that there is the tour bring back tourism Uh we actually just received uh a a local grant for for planning and promoting the river. Um so that's actually going to give us a a footprint that we can actually do a master plan as a tourism opportunity to make the river focus for us and we're not all about the river. It's also about reach those other towns that we have as well. So the the towns in the outer areas or or on our boundaries, we're actually bringing them into Canada to make it a midmar approach to tourism. So there is is a lot of planning in their uh in their strategic team and their forecast so to actually promote and build our area and uh we're also going through a grow strategy as well to try to build population base so that we can actually make ourselves a busier place to be. So we is looking to be um a place and can grow and to be a great lifestyle. I've got to throw my two cents worth in and say um it it just you know there's a certain vibe, a certain majesty about the place. So it was it's a very impressive place to visit and I'm sure to live. So speak speaking of um of um positive right the idea about um uh the challenge of facing the water right the practical terms right so you mentioned you built a leveies both in countryside up up a bit you know where where you you know you could see a way of stopping water you know through the streets of Manom right so you know keeping half the village you know, dry. What What um what was that like? And and how did you deal with people who weren't on the right side of the levy? Yeah, it's very challenging. Extremely challenging. I suppose when um the uh 1974 flood happened, basically it was nowhere near what we've just experienced now. But the 1974 was a bit of an eye opener for us as well. Bit of a learning curve. wasn't around at the time. But uh what happened was they built a levey probably about half a meter high, a little bit higher than that in spots on down main road which obviously left some buildings on the riverside which were it was totally practical if it's not private land. So we can't build levies around there. There's too much infrastructure there. So we had to really I suppose make a determination and follow what they did in 1974. Uh and that's basically what we did in Madam. Um and in doing so it was only a matter of what level height it was it was coming in. So there was uh quite a few public beans. Uh we held public beings in um Squatter Morgan and Menon leading up to uh obviously the time we had to evacuate and start building. Um, so there was obviously little casino and a lot of people that were on the other wrong side of the levying. Um, and they obviously had to rebuild and some of the buildings were very old stone built. So those survived, but that you know the cleanup was phenomenal. But we basically gave them a bit of a lead time to say, "Okay, this is what our proposal is. We're coming in on you know the lack simmer. We're going to start building. Here's what we're going to do. say Ricky, you've got to properly empty your shops out, empty your houses out and make sure that you are ready so that when we made the town ready and that's basically what I went um and and also with SA water um that the sewage system here is in SAS water and there's five pump stations along the river which basically two of them were um in behind the levy otherwise we would have shut down the sewer system in in man. So it was all the consequences if we didn't do what we did. Yeah. No. And um it was a um um a big job. How did you feel you did do it? Like for you know get bringing all the resources in. Are you proud of that job? Um I I there's a lot of contractors that just came out of the woodwork for us. Um we went down the part of having several contractors building the levies and building um all the infrastructure we need. uh our our own teams were out doing what they needed to do like the road closures and again business as usual. Um so to to be be where we are now and you come out the other side of it. Yeah. It's it's it's amazing what a group of people can do and a team environment can do when you have a sole focus and and basically how they approached it was very professional. It's very dedicated. Um and to see that from every level of staff. Uh yeah, didn't my CEO one day he rang up and said, "Have you got anyone demanding the pumps tonight?" And I just said, "It's New Year's Eve." And I said, "No, mate. I'm stuck for people." And he said, "I'll do it." So it's New Year's Eve, New Year's Day. He was there until 6:00 in the morning vanding the pumps to make sure the pumps are actually running. Um and you was amazing, massive team environment. Uh and uh yeah, so proud of the staff for what they did and and the contractors just working. Yeah, they they worked 24 hours a day, too, just to try to get us to where we needed to be. So, it's looking back at it, it was a horrendous uh but um and volatile uh occasion. Um but it was also a a moment where you sit back and just glance back at it and go, "Yeah, that was very worthwhile even though what the outcomes were." But uh it has the it's a very you know very um uh really good feeling about how we got through it all. So often you hear in the personal development world they talk about the circle of concern where you feel like you can operate you know comfortably and then the circle of influence right you know like is inside of that where you you know you're in your comfort zone. Do you feel like now you and your team right you, you know, have, you know, expanded your circle of concern, right? You there's not much you you wouldn't be conf confident dealing with. Yeah, it's it's probably brought a lot of staff a lot closer together. um because we had you've always got your own uh departments in in your infrastructure planning and corporate finance, but we had people from all other departments putting their hand up to go and help us on the round the clock. Um so that was just internally and that's actually built some uh pretty strong relationships within the within the council as well. Um, and it's it's it's it's one of those things I suppose you don't appreciate each other until you go through something like that sort of process. And you have a real respect for the you your fellow staff members and your team and even in my workforce, my outside workforce, the field staff, um, they work countless hours and they're absolutely brilliant. You know, no matter what you did, nothing was too hard for you. If you said, "I meant you do this." and and drive you right around the block room graders in sing grade the roads grading or or kid mowing laws in other towns they went on did it was yeah and and I think there's a filthy respect and also an admiration mist about what was it has actually happened how how did you come out of it mate your family are good you were good did you feel like uh you survived it all well yeah I I suppose there's one thing that um one thing that we probably oversaw a little bit. Um we overlooked a little bit was probably on our own wellbeing. Um because yeah we the staff are dedicated. They threw everything into it and their own wellbeing was the amount of hours we worked um and and the amount of hours that some people did like you know like some work overnight and then had their their option broke and then they come back and do their council work. Um so it was looking from um the inside out. That's what we were doing. We're trying to fix whatever we possibly could or try to prepare for it, but we didn't look back at ourselves. And that's one of the things I think we learned from this is our own well-being, our own support that we probably neglected a little bit. Um, but um yeah, from from a operational point of view, you start looking about how everyone's uh come out of it and the experience is what is it? They've all grown as an organization. They've grown as people and there's an admiration for a lot of people in the organization. That's awesome. That's good. You know, the grow the growth post trauma growth, you know, fantastic stuff. What um what are you doing uh you know, as you said and you know the oldtimes the law the men with the law are saying you know these things can be twos, right? What are you doing for the next one? Well, all we did when we actually remediated the uh the levies um so the main street man obviously that's been removed but what we did was the contour lead in all the in all the open space so we got what is Marian preserve it's the principal area it's anulated area and it's the focal point for the river uh connectivity for man when we pulled the levey back out we actually left the levey what would be at 120 a lot height So confiring what we built the leading suit was about 210 uh AFD um and when we or sorry flow rates 120 gig liter flow rate um and we ended up with a 210 198 I think it was when it first came through. So when we rebuilt the ground level we left the clip at that 120 flow rate. Um all except in one area where we weren't able to do it. We couldn't reclaim any land to do it. the man caravan park is set at 90 gig liters and the Marian reserve is set at 120. So we only have to do a little bit of work to to I suppose safeguard if we have flow up high. Um and that's what we've been able to do in I suppose in readiness. Uh and we've been also able to map our storm water. I mean what we've also been looking at doing is is we reduce some of our storm water. We're looking at getting gay bells on those so that we sh the storm water so water comes back up it doesn't come back up into the t. Um so yeah there's been a lot of learning from that. Uh but yeah it's all been an experience but um I think we've grown from it as well. Of course the contacts for you know your you know internal and external you know not just you know the area the government and so on that must be valuable right you build relationships with those organizations. It was yeah um it was only probably a little while ago where I actually went through my phone and I had to type in because I had to try and find address. just like in SCES and all the SCES numbers came up. They're all the all the contact points. So yeah, he was first point of contact for him. Um and uh yeah, he was yeah, massive issue, but it's it's been again out of it. Um it's difficult to say a disaster like that is rewarding, but it's it's an experience that you value. Absolutely value. That's really well put. I like how you know that it's an experiencing value that um I I I want to give you a pat in the back to you know down there the you you know iconic shot of me and the and the tree the flood tree right and of course you've already got the plaque up there right so it's like it's it's impressive with all that history it's important to capture those learnings and the things that you come from it what you know interesting the 56 is kind of in folklore. Now, how are you going to, you know, capture the folklore of 2022? Um, I think for people in my role in the future, I would say um yeah, we we built a massive database, a lot of photos, a lot of um uh I suppose detail about what happened, where we closed things with, like I said, we had weekly newsletters and and for the peak of the flood, we had uh that went out twice a week. It was all about the right clothes. It was all about the swings, our sewer systems. Uh it was all about our river frontage, our accessibility uh and then post flood it was about the rolling openings of the roads and then the implementation of the sweep. So we probably got very good mapping now of what actually occurred and we actually able to say okay well lay over our whole area and say well this is what happened in um you know 2022 23 and here's and then the government now has a website where they can they can predict that that various flow rates as well. So it gives us a really good um I suppose database of what we can expect and what we've experienced this time. So yeah, hopefully you say hopefully in the event that that happens again. Um I think we've got a a good base that we can work from. Absolutely. Couple of questions I'm I've asked others. First of all, um uh you know, you guys are, you know, too nice to give brick bats out, but you know, like there's a you know, if you ever if there's anyone you want to, you know, slipper, now's the good time to to put it out there. But um who was your favorite person from the flood experience? Um good question. Good question. Um I I actually think uh what was this point of view? Um Scott Denny, he was the Yeah, from the Zest point of view, Scott Denny was a absolutely fantastic facilitator of bringing everything together and making sure that everything was coordinated quite well. Um had quite a good couple of meetings. um and when when he came up here and personally visited. So yeah, I think that was there that was a very good relationship being built there. Um I think uh internally um I think our elected member body they were they were just newly elected at that time and I think they they uh I suppose have a very healthy respect for what the staff can do and what the staff can do as a as a whole and so I think there's been a massive amount of respect uh built from the elected member body about staffing in the area. Um and I suppose the relationship built internally because uh you know like there's a lot of people that will always just be knocking on your door saying are you okay and how you going and what are you doing and and and vice versa it was a massive amount of com. Yeah, right across the board I think yeah there was yeah even across across some of the council boundaries um yeah you with the other directors or the other managers over roles and um yeah there was a lot of support across that as well but again the SCS were always there to was the um yeah on-site supervision and work uh that we were doing and uh and again the contractors as well it it was just the whole collaboration was brilliant and and I and when you say red bats I can't think of anyone you want to give a Brit bet to because it was uh it's a consolidated effort. Beautiful, mate. Good. Spoken like a true team leader, mate. They're all good. The question I also ask is what's your what's your favorite thing about the river? What do you have a spot or a thing? Um favorite bit about the river is is what glass? um is actually it's when you go down there especially in the morning and it's like glass and there's no one on it. It's not busy and it's just tranquil. It's beautiful. You can just go down by the river and sit by the river and just watch it watch it go by or watch your house boat go down and it's it's just sitting there living and living that the living environment you've got uh is is absolutely brilliant to to do. Um and then conversely then when you go take your family down there you take uh and people re families up and then you see how busy the river gets but there's you know a couple hundred boats just in in over a couple of kilome stretch and people just living for the water sports at the river. So it's it's it goes from one parker being tranquil to the jet skis and the boats and then going to be very dsy but it's just the enjoyment it bricks it's unbelievable. Well you paint a wonderful picture mate. Um a and uh and you've done a a marvelous job over the you know during the flood and end post and uh today as well mate. Thank you so much for sharing such um great wisdom, great insight and uh and for letting us have a bit of a feel for the challenge that you guys and your community went through. Really great stuff. Thanks mate. No, thanks very much for the opportunity John and thanks very much visiting and letting Australia through. Um it it again it's one of those things that you actually have to see today how how devastating she was. So uh yeah no thank you very much for the opportunity. Too true. I'm looking forward to getting back there mate. See you soon. Thank you very much. Cheers. Thank you for listening to this episode of Riverland Recovery Stories. If anything in this conversation has had a triggering effect, please seek support and reach out to someone who can help keep you safe. If you found this conversation interesting or helpful, please share it with your friends, family, and colleagues so we can help more people with their recovery from natural disasters. To find out more about Kugi Heroes and our other projects, head to kinugiheroes.com.au. Thank you to our production team, Kinugi Heroes volunteers, and most importantly, the Riverland community for sharing their lived experience. [Music]
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Two years after the flood, David says the cleanup has been bigger than the response itself, with roads still needing work, shelters missing roofs, and some caravan parks still closed because insurance and funding processes have been slow.
This conversation includes thirty years on the river, the river as lifeblood, warning signs in 2022, the barbecue floating past, one focus, one team and pumps running around the clock.
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