Storm wreaks havoc in Vhembe district
At least 40 homes severely damaged. Families now getting help from the government
A storm wreaked havoc in parts of Vhembe District Municipality last week, with serious damage reported to nearly 40 homes. No injuries were reported.
On Saturday, municipal spokesman Moses Shibambu in a statement said the Vhembe Disaster team was assessing affected areas and that the Department of Social Development, Eskom, SASSA and SAPS would be assisting the families. There were 20 houses damaged in Thulamela and 17 in Musina.
Late on Thursday, roofs were blown off, windows were blown out and some families lost food, clothes and school items.
Azwifaneli Mualusi from Tshamulungwi village, Thulamela, said: “The situation is still bad. After the storm, some of the affected had to be accommodated by neighbours. If schools are to open any time soon, some learners may go to school without books or uniforms. Something needs to be done urgently to assist these families.”
Another resident, Mueletshedzi Mukwevho, said he and three other people had been in the house when the roof blew away. “Immediately we rushed to another house for shelter. We could not save anything out from the damaged house.” Mukwevho said the food provided by the disaster team would not last long.
Thomas Maboko of Tshiundane village also lost belongings including a television, refrigerator and a sofa set. Electricity poles around the house were all damaged. His house’s windows were broken and walls were brought down.
“The house is completely damaged. I need to bring down the whole house and start building afresh,” said Maboko.
© 2020 GroundUp.
This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
You may republish this article, so long as you credit the authors and GroundUp, and do not change the text. Please include a link back to the original article.