15 year old dies in hail storm

The heavy hail storm caused accidents and damage to houses and cars but the lightning that followed took the life of a school pupil that was making his way home with six other people who are all seriously injured and being treated at Witbank Hospital.

The hail on November 14 turned the roads into a slip and slide for the cars. Many accidents were reported.

On Monday, November 16 the sun occasionally shone thought the shifting clouds on the partly cloudy afternoon and then the hail started to suddenly fall.
Surprised people stopped their work to peer out the windows as the hail gradually fell more fiercely going from small pebbles to chunks as big as ice cubs. It was not long before news reports came in of hail stones as big as tennis balls in Nelspruit and damaged windows and roofs in Gauteng.

This was only the beginning. During the hail storm the N4 highway became a river of slushed ice and accidents happened up and down the N4 running through eMalahleni.

The size of the hail stones that fell here in eMalahleni. Picture taken by a local resident.

As bad as all this is, the lighting that accompanied the storm is perhaps far more fatal than any hail stone can be. In the past lighting has claimed the lives of many people right here in eMalahleni such as a former HTS learner in 2014. This passed Monday a lightning bolt struck seven people near Duvha Power Station and killing one person instantly. Paramedics and the Witbank SAPS were on the scene to treat the victims. According to official reports seven people, two women and five men including a 15-year-old schoolboy was walking down the road when the hail storm came down.

Mr Paul Goldschagg from Langamed Emergency Management explained what happens when a person gets struck by lightening,

“The human body is always positively charged and lightening is negatively charged.”

Langamed transported another patient who was electrocuted in her home after lightening struck the house. She was apparently holding a plugged in cell phone and the surging electricity burnt her. This means that a human body can potentially become a lightening rod.

The circle near Bankenveld is covered in hail as if it were snowing.

The victims at the Duvha incident apparently all tried to take shelter under a nearby hawker stall built on the side of the road when the lightning bolt struck the rickety structure. The incident happened at 13:45 and the surviving victims are being treated for serious burn wounds. The boy was not yet identified by the time the newspaper went to print.

Goldschagg added,

“If at all possible people should get indoors during a thunderstorm. Do not take shelter underneath trees because they conduct electricity and especially stay far away from power lines. Also avoid using plugged in electronics.”

Towing services and panel beating workshops were all working around the clock as damaged cars were brought in for repair the following day after the storm.