Thousands more people will be eligible for a vaccination against the Japanese encephalitis virus (JEV) as the River Murray continues to rise in South Australia, but a pharmacist in the Murraylands has warned that power outages may spoil the vaccines.
The state government has announced that emergency service workers visiting the area will be able to get the vaccine, along with shack owners who live outside of the Riverland and Murraylands.
Previously, only people in postcodes along the Murray could get the vaccine for free.
So far, about 10,000 people have taken up the offer.
Chief Public Health Officer Nicola Spurrier said nine cases of JEV were detected in South Australia last summer, and the mosquitoes which transmit the virus had been less active with colder weather conditions, but that was tipped to change.
"They are going to explode with this warm weather and there is so much water around," Professor Spurrier said.
She said most people who contracted the virus did not develop any symptoms, but the 1 in 250 who did, had brain swelling, could suffer from headaches, a stiff neck, drowsiness and vomiting, followed by going unconscious.
"It is very serious developing encephalitis, so if you were developing any symptoms like that, you would get yourself straight to a doctor," she said.
Concern about power outages
Mannum pharmacist Fiona Mann is expecting a large delivery of JEV vaccines.
She is worried the electricity in her business may be switched off without notice as the Murray reaches its peak in the Murraylands town.
She said vaccines could go to waste if they got too warm.
"I would like some notice if they are going to turn it off, not rock up and say 'it's going to be turned off now'," Ms Mann said.
"We do have a lot of expensive medicines and medicines that have to be kept secured all the time."
Some residents in Bowhill — on the opposite of the river — have already experienced power outages with no warning from SA Power Networks.
Ms Mann said she had a back-up battery for the vaccination fridge, as well as a generator, but electricity was also needed for alarms.
Paul Roberts from SA Power Networks said the company had learnt from the experience at Bowhill, where some people who had power cut, were not officially customers.
"We've learned from this in terms of widening the communication," he said.
Mannum cheese shop owner Tracey Phyland is hoping the power stays on.
"We don't want to have to close," she said.
"I mean I've got a lot of stock here and I've got a lot of stock coming as well.
"I'm really finding it hard in the fact that I don't want to have to close and not be able to open up again."
Funding for mental health staff
Health Minister Chris Picton announced $1 million in funding already announced for mental health would go towards employing extra staff in the Riverland.
This will include additional telehealth psychiatry support and a community resilience program.
"There's a lot of great community organisations that already do a lot of work in the Riverland," Mr Picton said.
"We want to strengthen and support those organisations to reach out more."
The state government is planning to set up an emergency relief centre at Murray Bridge, in addition to the one that opened in Mannum today and another one in Berri.
The centre at the Mannum Football Club will be open every day between 9am and 5pm.
Services provided include food relief, mental health support, access to emergency accommodation and support with personal hardship grants.
Premier Peter Malinauskas said anyone needing access to emergency accommodation, who had nowhere else to go, must visit a relief centre.
"For those people who simply have no other option, the government is moving heaven and earth to provide support where we can," he said.
"The mechanism to be able to get access to this is through the emergency relief centres and of course we now have one open in the Riverland, one open in Mannum and ultimately one in Murray Bridge as well."
DefenCell levee going up in Renmark
Work has begun on building a temporary levee along the riverfront in Renmark to protect historic buildings.
The State Emergency Service (SES) is building the levee using special DefenCell technology that allows a levee to be built more quickly than normal and in small spaces.
SES south region commander Leanne Schmidt said the Renmark Paringa Council had identified buildings along the riverfront that were vulnerable and important to the community.
"They were really keen to protect the very special assets that they've got along the river here, including the club and the historic hotel here," she said.
It is expected to be complete by the end of the week.
Renmark's Riverbend Caravan Park was evacuated and closed overnight after defects were identified in the private levee built around the site.
There have been calls for more support for smaller towns downstream.
"It's not good enough to say to communities like Younghusband, Swan Reach, 'I'm sorry but we don't have the resources to build levees to protect you'," federal MP for Barker Tony Pasin said.
Mr Malinauskas said the state government had funded a lot of levee works outside the largest towns.
