S. O. S.

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume LXXXIII, Issue 19826, 28 April 1927, Page 7

S. O. S.

FLOOD VICTIMS Urgent Call for Food, Qothhg And Shelter WHOLESALE DESTITUTION ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY THOUSAND HOMELESS. fßy Telegraph—Per Press Aasn.—Capyr*M.J (A. and N.Z.) WASHINGTON, April 26. A message from Memphis states that Governor Simpson of Louisiana, has asked the War Department's approval to break the Mississippi levees to relieve the flood situation. The proposed break would be created below New Orleans to divert the wall of water rushing down the great stream. Mr Simpson’s message to the Secretary of War, Mr Davis, declared that Louisiana and New Orleans pledged their faith and would compensate any damage caused by the break. He urged that the present conditions required immediate attention. The Mayor of Kansas City sent an aeroplane message to Little Kock, stating:— We aaje in desperate need. The town has no bread. There are 2000 on a levee not fed since Monday. AH are in dire need. Please tell the world, we need food, boats, shelter, tents, and bedding. Meantime the Red Cross organisation "under Mr Henry Baker, national director of disaster relief work, has established a large depot here for the distribution of supplies. These include 25.000 tents. 25,000 cots, 100,000 blankets, and 200 field kitchens, all of which will be n«hed to the relief camps wherever needed. Mr Baker has also asked the navy for four more hydroplanes, which will be used to make daily surveys of the flooded sections to locate marooned refugees and carry supplies. The evacuation of inhabitants from their homes in the delta region is continuing on a large scale. Relief camps will be maintained until the last of the victims can return, which it is estimated will be at least a month, after which the Red Cross plans to aid rehabilitation by providing clothing and a small amount cf furniture. Estimates of the dead in the flood stricken area vary to-day from 200 to 500. Refugees from the newly inundated sections of the Mississippi in Arkansas and Louisiana have swelled the ranks to 150,000 homeless at the concentration camps.