“I wish everything could go back to how it was before the storm” was the sentiment of Raisa Cassim whose flat was devastated by the storm on 9 October.
She is one of many in Northgate’s Sunbird Estate cleaning up their homes after a busy night of trying to salvage their most important belongings.
“I was at work when the storm hit and when we came back, the thatch roof was caving in and the wall is a push away from collapsing,” said Cassim. “Most of my things are broken or water damaged but I saved what I could. It is very heartbreaking but now I will have to find alternative accommodation and wait for our flat to be fixed.”
Another resident who did not want to be named said the strong winds made the building feel like it would fall.
“We were expecting storms this weekend and not on Monday so it was really surprising when I received warning messages. This level of damage will take weeks to fix and hope that another storm does not hit us again,” he said.
The Northgate estate suffered extensive damage as the strong winds broke windows, lifted thatched roofs and bent thatch roof lightning conductors.
Thomas Tshipalafhasi, the maintenance manager of the estate had just come back from running errands when the storm struck.
“I had just dropped off a guy who was supposed to fix our lapa roof but I guess that won’t be happening anymore,” he said. “Most of the carports in the estate were damaged but luckily we have shade cloth carports so not all the vehicles were damaged.”
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