After four hours immersed in icy cold floodwater fixing a stormwater drain in Renmark, lockmaster and diver Harold Casement surfaced as a hero, with his activities a precursor to those currently underway in the Riverland to help protect townships.
abc.net.au/news/harold-casemaster-diver-saved-renmark-1956-flood-stormwater/101806194After four hours immersed in icy cold floodwater fixing a stormwater drain in Renmark, lockmaster and diver Harold Casement surfaced as a hero., the water spilled into the streets and inundated surrounding roads, homes and businesses.
"That was something nobody could understand, but he didn't need to swim," Harold's son Kevin Casement says. A plan was conceived for someone to dive into the drain and plug the pipe with a tapered round piece of wood and stop Murray River flows filling the streets.With the roads to Renmark closed, Harold had to drive from Loxton to Paringa, and then travel on a rail car to get to the scene.But before embarking underwater he jumped into his diving suit — his armour.
Harold spent more than four hours in the icy cold floodwater in the storm drains, jamming the wood plugs into the pipes. "I don't know how often he was called out, but he was definitely on the emergency call-out list," Mr Casement says.Mr Casement says he is proud of his father's contribution to the 1956 flood effort, but it took a village to protect the region and its people.
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