Chief's house struck by lightning

The house of Chief Maelula Ramabulana was struck by lightning two weeks ago. A fierce storm, accompanied by lightning, demolished houses in the Sinthumule and Kutama area and the Maelula area was not spared.

When the Ramabulana family’s house was struck, the bed inside one of the rooms was reduced to ashes. Fortunately, nobody was in the house when it caught fire. The specific room that was struck is used as a bedroom by the family. Had it happened during the night, the family members could have been burnt to death

The spokesperson for the family, Ms Thelma Ramabulana, said that the family members were still in shock. “We heard a big bang and a bolt of lightning appeared from the sky. When we went out, we found that the house was in flames,” she said. The incident took place at about 18:30.

Ramabulana said she then ran to inform the neighbours, even though it was raining heavily. “Our home was full of people in a short space of time, but they watched helplessly as the house went up in flames. We only managed to save some of the goods,” she said.

Ramabulana said that it was the third time that the family house had been struck by lightning. The first time it happened was in 1979 and the second time was in the early eighties.

According to a community member, Mr Talelani Mudumela, who was among the first at the scene, they just heard a loud crashing noise and then saw smoke. The lightning had apparently struck the roof.

Date:19 October 2017

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.

Read: 913