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Ms Magaret Thengwana of Tshikhwarani, photographed with her children in front of their damaged shack.

Devastating storm hits Kutama villages

 

The communities of Tshikwarani, Maebane, Midoroni, Muduluni and Makhitha are picking up the pieces after a heavy shower and strong wind damaged numerous houses last Thursday night.

Business buildings in the area were affected, while trees and electricity poles were also blown down. The worst-affected village is Maebane, where many houses were left without roofs.
The victims are mostly from the poor rural area, and most are unemployed. Nearly 150 houses were severely damaged in the incident - 75 at Meabane, 30 at Tshikwarani, 17 at Midoroni, 15 at Muduluni and nine at Makhitha.

Three people at Tshikhwarani were slightly injured. They were treated at the Louis Trichardt Memorial Hospital and later discharged.

One of the affected residents of Tshikwarani, Mrs Magaret Thengwane, said she thought a tornado had touched down or that lightning had struck her house. “I could not see properly as it was raining heavily and it was also hailing." The storm subsided after for two hours and when she went out, she found that the roofs of her two houses had been blown away.

Ms Sewela Ravhusiwana of Maebane indicated that when the storm hit her village, she was at home with family members, trying to remove the furniture. Her house’s corrugated roof was badly damaged and some of the sheets that were part of the roof were completely blown away. Her six-roomed house was swept away by the heavy storm and she is now temporarily living with her neighbours.

The Vhembe District Municipality’s spokesperson, Mr Matodzi Ralushai, said the situation was now under control, with the municipality having distributed tents and food to the affected families. “We heard about the incident and we immediately dispatched our disaster teams to assess the damage. We are making the necessary interventions. As a caring municipality, we do care about our community´s well-being and we will do everything in our power to assist them,” he said.

Cllr Nndwamato Kutama looks at corrugated iron hanging from electricity lines.

The Ramufhi family of Maebane at their house that was damaged in the storm.

This telephone pole was blown down by the strong wind.

 

Date:12 February 2016

By: Kaizer Nengovhela

Kaizer Nengovhela started writing stories for Limpopo Mirror in 2000. Prior to that he had a five year stint at Phala-Phala FM as sports presenter. In 2005 Kaizer received an award from the province's premier as Best Sports Presenter. The same year he was also nominated as Best Sports Reporter by the Makhado Municipality. Kaizer was awarded the Mathatha Tsedu award in 2014.

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