THE place to be during the Murray River flood is Merbein.

High on a rare Mallee hill and overlooking the Murray, lakes Ranfurly and Hawthorn, and Boeill Creek in News South Wales, the town's lookout has become the popular spot to view the natural drama unfolding on the floodplains.

The president of the Merbein District Historical Society, Bernadette Wells, lives nearby on the top of Pump Hill an...