FLOOD REFUGEES IN AUSTRALIA

Press, Volume XCIV, Issue 28053, 22 August 1956, Page 13

FLOOD REFUGEES IN AUSTRALIA

Aged Leave Renmark As Murray Rises (Rec. 11.30 p.m.) MELBOURNE, Aug. 21. Pathetic groups of aged and infirm men and women from an old folks’ home were among the refugees evacuated today from the flood-besieged Murray river town of Renmark. As the floods continued to rise after more heavy rain, the old people, carrying their meagre oossessions, trudged today along the battered causeway that was once Renmark avenue. They left behind hundreds of volunteers stacking sandbags in desperate attempts to hold back the floods. The flood level reached 30ft 4in today, after early morning rain. Lake Hindmarsh is at its highest level for more than 40 years, and is still rising. A plane flew north from Mildura today with the first mail in more than three weeks for flood-bound sheep stations between the Darling and Murray rivers. The mail was also going to Warrananga. where contractor'- will meet the plane and make deliveries by road across the 1,500,000-acre island formed by the Darling in the north, the Anabranch in the north and west, and the Murray in the south.

GERMAN TEAM FOR GAMES

Joint Eastern And Western Entry BERLIN, August 20, East and West German athletic association officials today in East Berlin decided to send a joint team to the Olympic Games at Melbourne. A provisional list of athletes was drawn up, but others may also qualify to join the team, which is due to leave for Australia on November 12. Spokesmen for the two German associations said that their negotiations had resulted in full agreement on all questions “and already breathed the Olympic spirit.”