MISSISSIPPI FLOODS.

Press, Volume LXIII, Issue 18988, 30 April 1927, Page 15

MISSISSIPPI FLOODS.

VIRTUAL MARTIAL LAW. 300 DEAD COUNTED. (BT CABLJ—PB»S3 AISOCIATIOX—COPTBIGHT.) (AUSTRALIAN AND B.Z. CABLB ASSOCIATION.) NEW YORK, April 28. Virtual martial law is effective in the Mississippi district. Reports of looting by negroes have made it necessary to invoke an 8 o'clock curfew. Guardsmen patrol the streets, in some of the flooded towns, in boats. Everything possible is being done to prevent plague and disease, but polluted water supplies, exposure, and poor food have stricken many of the homeless. Vaccination and inoculation, however, have so far prevented the serious spread of disease. Refugees are continuing to pour into Vicksburg, and once there none is permitted to leave the camps without the permission of the State authorities. Many inhabitants are leaving; the Acadia district, Louisiana, which is doomed to be flooded when the levee is dynamited to-morrow, but a considerable number are refusing to leave, and bloodshed is still feared. While it is impossible to state definitely what the toll of the floods is so far, Mr H. Hoover and others declare that 300 dead have already been counted, which figure is expected to bo greatly increased. It is estimated that over 250,000 people are homeless, and that property damage will exceed 200,000,000 dollars, Additional damage is threatening many Louisiana and Mississippi towns. A serious emergency is feared iu lower Louisiana. Hundreds of families still marooned in the outlying districts are practically unsheltered, with limited food supplies, and only muddy flood water to drink. More seaplanes have been dispatched to scout out the refugees huddled together on the levees, or stranded on islands dotting the wide expanse of water.