An overhead view of Ian Mueller’s dairy farm at Riverglen along the River Murray in South Australia.(ABC News: Che Chorley)
In a small town south of Murray Bridge, people are working day and night to save a family’s dairy farm from the rising River Murray.
Important:
The Riverglen community is doing more sandbagging to protect homes that are in the way of the water.
The goal is to keep more than 500 hectares of land from being completely flooded. Ian Mueller’s dairy farm is one of those places.
On their Riverglen farm, Ian Mueller and his family have been making milk for more than 20 years.
If 240 hectares of their land flooded, they might lose their jobs.
“We might not be able to use it for about a year before we can plant grass on it,” he said.
“If we can stay strong, we’ll be able to keep grazing here and milking our cows the same way we have for years.”
With the help of neighbours and family, the Muellers are now fighting for their lives. In just over a week, 190 to 220 gigaliters of water a day are expected to hit nearby Murray Bridge.
“We have probably put between 30,000 and 35,000 tonnes of clay on this levee bank,” Mr. Mueller said.
“We’re still transporting.”
The people in the area, who all live on the same flood plain, have doubled the size of the private levee, which is 5 km long, by making it wider and taller.
The mission could keep water from taking over more than 500 hectares of land.
Some people have rushed to get sandbags that were badly needed, and others have let them use their cement trucks to fill them up faster.
The Muellers own their own quarry, which is where most of the clay for the levee is coming from.
Mr. Mueller said, “We probably still have about a metre to go before the water goes over the levee.”
“I’m pretty happy with what we’ve been able to do here.”
“But nature is a very strong force that is stronger than our community here in Riverglen.”
On New Year’s Day, a group of locals worked from 10 am to 8 pm to fill hundreds of sandbags that will be used to strengthen parts of the levee that are weaker.
Stuart Padman has kept horses next to the Muellers’ house for many years, and he said he would be happy to help.
“I can’t water my animals because I don’t have power to run my irrigation system,” Mr. Padman said.
So the Muellers have been kind enough to say, “Hook onto our line.”
“If they didn’t, I’d have to move all the horses and all my trees would die.”
Mr. Padman said that they were going to do whatever it took to stop the water, no matter how much it cost.
“The levee might be broken, but you have to do what you can to stop it,” he said.
“Ian is trying to stop it day and night.”
Even if the levee holds, Mr. Mueller thinks that their community would have a hard time getting back on its feet after such a hard time.
Mr. Mueller said, “It wouldn’t surprise me if all the land owners here spent $300,000 to $400,000 on [the levee].”
“We would be grateful for any help from the government.”
