While floodwaters have receded, sections of Swan Reach on the Murray River have started to resemble a rubbish tip, with piles of water-logged furniture lining the streets.
Chairs, bikes, televisions, beds and cupboards have all been dumped in a heap, awaiting collection – a sign residents did not know the water would be as high as it was.
Wearing muddied sneakers, Kerry Tripodi still cannot believe how high the water got.
At the peak, she was able to park her jet ski by the upstairs balcony of her home.
"Never in a million years would I have thought it's going to come up here [to the second storey]," she said.
As Ms Tripodi carefully walked through her home, she pointed out a bedroom that was now unrecognisable.
She said she expected the mud and mould, but was surprised at the Murray's might, which tore off the sides of her house, ripped through the upstairs skirting boards and flung the fridge across the kitchen.
"The current running through here was enormous," she said.
"It's a bit stinky."
Right along the river, home and business owners have been surprised by the height of the water.
There are many stories of people who moved possessions to the upper level of their home, only for it to be inundated as well.
Department for Environment and Water executive director Ben Bruce, said at certain points along the river, the water did peak higher than expected.
"The flows were really in line with what we expected, but the water levels tracked a little bit higher," Mr Bruce, who was providing floodwater predictions throughout the emergency, said.
Renmark and Morgan were among the towns where the water was above expectations, but Mr Bruce said the water height varied along the river.
"Some of those heights were different to what we expected,' he said.
"We adjusted quite quickly to those when we could, but the trouble was the variations in the catchment were so individual and so local, which we hadn't seen in previous events before … and so we really had to monitor that as it went down."
Mr Bruce said the government provided forecasts as early as it could and gave a range of how high the flows could be, to encourage people to prepare for higher floodwaters.
But he said the landscape had changed so much since the last flood which impacted on the water height.
"This is the first time we've seen an event for over 50 years so it's a bit new to everyone," he said.
Club could be closed for months
Key hubs within the community, such as the Swan Reach bowling club, were also washed out by the flood.
Member Neville Marks has been helping clear waste from inside the clubroom and sweeping clean the bowling green, nearly every day in recent weeks.
"(I) don't want to do it again, I can tell you that," he said.
"Most of our members are nearly my age and I'm no [spring] chicken anymore."
The bar, bathroom, and importantly, the bowling green, all need to be fixed so they can return to hosting competitions and weekly social bowls.
While there is promise in the green shoots on the grass, Mr Marks still thinks it will be months before he is back doing what he loves.
"I can't see us getting on here before December," he said.
