Hundereds of families left homeless after heavy storm
Over 500 families from Muraleni, Madabani, Ravele, Ramahantsha, Gogobole and Tshiozwi in the Sinthumule area were left stranded last Thursday evening when a big storm damaged their homes and uprooted trees
LIMPOPO – Madabani Primary school, Swobani High school and a shop at Madabani were also severely damaged.
Two people from Gogobole were also injured and taken for treatment to the Louis Trichardt Memorial Hospital.
Residents whose houses were damaged and lost all their belongings in the violent storm as a result were seen trying to fix and replace their corrugated iron roofs.
Some of the storm victims said they have not yet managed to fix their homes as most of them are unemployed.
Eskom employees are also hard at work fixing the damaged electricity infrastructure in the affected villages.
The Spokesperson of Vhembe Municipality, Matodzi Ralushai, said the situation was dire.
They had already sent members of the Disaster Management team to assess the damage and assist the affected families.
Ralushai said they would soon activate a joint operation centre to offer temporary relief to the storm victims.
He added they distributed food parcels to the affected families.
He further appealed to those whose houses were damaged to contact the headman or ward councillors to register their damage on the system.
A Gogobole village resident, Evelyn Sithagu, was sleeping in her four roomed house with her five children and her husband when the walls in her house fell on her.
She is among those who were injured.
“My whole body is aching as I have been stitched on my back and my ear has been amputated,” said Sithagu.
According to another resident, Khathutshelo of Madabani whose RDP house was severely damaged, the wind swept through the village, leaving everyone running for cover.
He said light raindrops were followed by loud cracks of thunder and streaks of lightning.
He added the situation worsened for her as deafening sounds started coming from the roof on her house. Next she heard her windows shattering and the roof rattling and being blown off.
