FLOOD waters have forced Albury’s River Deck Cafe to shut indefinitely.
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The Noreuil Park eatery was left isolated to motorists after water from the swollen Murray River cut off access roads on Tuesday morning.
River Deck operator Alex Smit was stunned to find his work shut-off by high water generated by big outflows from a near-full Lake Hume.
“No-one gave us forewarning,” Mr Smit said.
“It’s extremely frustrating and not only a shame for us, but a shame for Albury.
“We’re getting a lot of people, who are going up to the snow, coming here and it's sad we can’t show off Albury.”
Mr Smit said the eatery was shut indefinitely with bookings cancelled for the next few days.
Food was removed from the premises on Tuesday as fridges were emptied.
Mr Smit said reopening would not be as simple as “flicking a light switch” and it may be the weekend before doors open again.
It is the first time in his six years involved in the cafe that Mr Smit has been forced to close because of high water.
“I think these releases could have started quite a while ago and potentially they would have had a lot less impact,” Mr Smit said.
The Murray-Darling Basin Authority, which determines the rate of water released from Lake Hume, was criticised on Monday by the Murray River Action Group for failing to communicate its moves.
“It’s easy to point the finger but there’s probably a multitude of reasons why this occurred,” Mr Smit said.
But he added it “would be helpful” if those in charge explained better the decision-making behind releases.
The MDBA told river land owners to use the weather bureau website and would not say if 25,000 daily megalitre releases would stay.
“Any changes to releases will depend on the amount of rain that falls in the catchment over the next few days,” a spokeswoman said.
“We are expecting more rain over the next couple of days, and we are aiming to make room in the dam to help manage any further inflows.”
The Murray River gauge was expected to exceed the minor flood level of 4.3 metres late on Tuesday or overnight.
At Corowa it was tipped to reach 5.4 metres on Thursday after having been at 4.3 metres at 9am Tuesday.
