STORM SPOILS XMAS FOR OVER 500 FOLKS

MASEYISINI – At a time when many are looking forward to Christmas celebrations, close to 500 people are figuring out how to secure shelter.

A heavy storm which swept through the Shiselweni Region and other parts of the country on Wednesday night dampened any hopes for a fun-filled holiday as many were left without roofs over their heads.

Instead of celebrating, most victims will spend Christmas Day surrounded by rubble and bent corrugated sheets in the aftermath of a devastating hailstorm that ravaged many areas on Wednesday night.

At Maseyisini alone, about 29 households were affected by the storm which drove occupants out of their houses after strong winds blew away their roofs. Many residents described Wednesday night as terrifying.

“I was already in bed at around 9pm when it started. You could tell from the sounds that there was a heavy downpour which was accompanied by strong winds. I consider myself lucky because as I was thinking about the damage which would be caused by the rain in the fields, I got a rude awakening when corrugated iron sheets flew into the house,” narrated a resident.

Heavy winds are said to have torn off the roofs of several homesteads, while many were also left in the dark as electricity lines were also affected.
Another victim, a 70-year-old woman, sat depressed around the family yard and could not help thinking about all her crops which were damaged by the storm.
Rejoice Thwala was fresh from receiving her elderly social grant when she was approached by this publication yesterday, but there was nothing cheerful about her mood.

“It’s going to be a sad Christmas. I just received about E1 200 but all that will have to go into purchasing farm inputs again because everything in the fields was destroyed. I also have a neighbour who will also have to spend all her grant into re-building her home,” she said.

At the time of the interview, residents had cleared a rare landscape of damaged corrugated iron sheets which were strewn all over the area. Another distraught community member said she was too poor to re-build her home, and making matters worse was the fact that her family had recently buried a loved one.

A local preschool also had its roof blown off by the strong winds that accompanied the storm. Also caught in the way of the storm were two households which had their houses struck by lightning, but fortunately no one was injured. Meanwhile, dozens of textile workers living around the area had to absent themselves from work because most of their rented houses were also damaged during the storm. Maseyisini Member of Parliament Mduduzi ‘Small Joe’ Dlamini also took time to visit some of the affected households where he found occupants cleaning up.

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