Hundreds of persons are dead, missing or injured and 50,000 families are in desperate straits as a result of the catastrophic floods which have inundated extensive regions of Poland, it was learned here tonight when Premier Kazlowsky returned to the capital from an inspection tour. Large numbers of those affected are known to be Jews.
The Krynica summer resort, which has numerous Jewish guests, continued cut off from communication with the outside world, but it is known that thousands of holiday makers there and at other resorts are starving.
The waters are now subsiding, and the government hopes to be able to reestablish ruptured communications by the beginning of next week. What advices have managed to trickle in have been calamitous in the extreme.
One such report came today from the city of Tarnow where, in a total population of 50,000, approximately 30,000 are Jews. Forty persons were drowned there, the report said.
The city is entirely flooded and has been isolated completely from the rest of the world.
Metropolitan Sapieha of Cracow, which is being menaced by the flood that was brought on by a terrific cloudburst and three days of rain, today issued an appeal to the clergy of all faiths to offer special prayers on the catastrophe.
Premier Kazlowsky and Minister of the Interior Koscialkowski have been in constant communication with Minister Butkiewics who has arrived in Cracow and is personally directing rescue work. Every effort is being made by the authorities under his direction to take preventive measures in Cracow and Warsaw.
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