22 August 1956 Murray floods

At midnight on 22 August 1956 the level of the River Murray at Renmark reached 30 feet 6 ¾ inches. It was thought this was the peak but the next day the water rose a further ½ an inch although for the first time since 15 June it then remained stationary. For weeks people along the river had been raising levees but damage from the flood waters amounted to millions of pounds. From Renmark to Meningie the river wreaked havoc flooding homes and properties and many hundreds of families were evacuated as well as the hospital at Renmark. In Mannum, as in the floods of 1896, the water rose to the first floor balcony of the Mannum hotel and was almost at that level at the Pretoria. It was a natural disaster of massive proportions which brought all South Australians to the aid of the river people.

One side effect of the floods was reported from near Meningie where a dairy farmer killed 1032 tiger snakes driven on to his property from their normal swamp habitat as the waters spread inland.

Advertiser, 11-31 August 1956.