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The mayor of Musina, Cllr Mihloti Muhlope (left), visited Othilia Neluvhola, whose mud house was badly damaged during the heavy rain and storm at Ha-Gumbu village.

Storm at Masisi destroys dozens of houses

 

The communities of Masisi, Gumbu, Sigonde, Tshenzhelani, Mukununde and other villages within the Musina Municipality are literally picking up the pieces after a heavy shower and strong wind damaged numerous houses on Sunday night.

The storm destroyed the roofs of hundreds of houses and caused other damage. The victims are mostly from the poor rural area, and most are unemployed. Earlier this week, residents whose houses were damaged were seen trying to fix and replace the corrugated iron roofs. Many of them had lost all their belongings in the violent storm.

Three people at Gumbu were slightly injured. They were treated at the local clinic and later discharged. Some of the storm victims complained that they had not yet been assisted.

Ms Nkhumedzeni Mbedzi 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 were completely blown away. She is now temporarily living with her neighbours.

One of the affected residents, Mrs Veronica Mamphadeni, 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 about two hours and when she went out, she found that the roofs of her two houses had been blown away.

“When it happened, I thought it was the end of the world, as the wind was howling and at the same time it was raining. We are now stranded without a place to stay. This is really a bad situation,” said Ms Gladys Ramarumo, whose children were injured when her house was damaged in the storm. Part of a wall had collapsed.

The spokesperson for the Vhembe Municipality, Mr Matodzi Ralushai, said that the situation was very bad. “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.

 

News - Date: 29 November 2019

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From left to right: Musanda Vho-Nthuseni Gumbu, Mayor Mihloti Muhlope and Nkhumedzeni Mbedzi, captured next to what was left of Mbedzi’s home at Ha-Gumbu village.

 

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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.

Email: [email protected]

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