HAMBANATHI HALL’S ROOF BLOWN OFF, CARS DAMAGED

SITEKI – Areas around Mhlume compound were not spared from the hailstorm.

Trees were uprooted and vehicles were damaged by the trunks of some of the trees. Hambanathi Community Hall and Bar, situated just less than 500m from the Nsukuwansuku Stadium, was not spared as its roofing was blown away and landed just a few metres away from the stadium’s fence. The road from Mhlume to Mafucula was also blocked by electricity poles and traffic had to negotiate its way to pass through as the Eswatini Electricity Company (EEC) had not yet attended to the incident.

Winile Magagula, a resident at the Royal Eswatini Sugar (RES) Corporation houses at Mhlume Village, said the devastating storm left a trail of destruction at the village and surrounding areas. Magagula said the storm started around 7pm, accompanied by heavy windy conditions that uprooted trees and blew away corrugated iron sheets with the Hambanathi Community Hall and Bar extensively damaged. She said the storm also affected vendors’ shelters, including waiting rooms and added that some of her neighbours at the village were also affected by the trees that fell when the storm wreaked havoc and uprooted them.

Flooded

“A majority of the houses were flooded and some household furniture was soaked after the heavy rain that accompanied the storm. I am still cleaning the flooding inside the house as a result of the storm,” Magagula said. Power within the village was interrupted as some electricity lines were also damaged.
Some of the electricity poles along the Mhlume-Mafucula Road were also left hanging by the roadside due to the storm. RES Corporation Group Public Affairs Manager Sifiso Nyembe said the company was yet to quantify the costs incurred during the damage of structures by the storm.

Nyembe said the storm heavily affected Mhlume Village yet the other areas close by were spared. “We received reports to the effect that some properties, particularly at Mhlume, were damaged by the storm where trees were uprooted and roofs blown away. We are still to quantify the costs,” he said. Nyembe further appealed to residents of the sugarbelt areas to ensure that they were always safe. “We are in the summer and rains accompanied by storms are inevitable. We hope residents in the villages along the sugarbelt will exercise vigilance at all times,” added Nyembe. He mentioned that some of the affected sugar cane fields whose cane was in a state of logging due to the storm would be able to grow again.

Damaged

“The fields were not severely damaged as the cane was found to have logged and will be able to grow again,” he said. Mhlume Inkhundla Indvuna Morris Dlamini said they were still shocked by the devastating storm that ravaged the Mhlume Village on Monday evening. Dlamini said areas like Tshaneni and Vuvulane, including Tambankulu Estate, were not affected. “The storm destruction was severe around Mhlume Village as the other areas close to the sugarbelt town were spared. Vuvulane and Tshaneni were not affected, including Tambankulu and Simunye,” he said.

The indvuna further warned pupils from schools along the sugarbelt to go straight home after school to ensure that they were safe from the devastating rains and storms as predicted by weather forecasters. He further reminded parents and guardians to exercise vigilance with their children as a safety precautionary measure. “Parents should always know the whereabouts of their children. This is important due to the current nature of the summer season rains,” Dlamini said. Meanwhile, this is the second storm in a space of a month to have hit some parts of the country after schools and homes in the Shiselweni and Hhohho regions were severely damaged by a hailstorm that left their roofing and walls damaged. Cabinet ministers toured the affected schools to ascertain the damages caused by the storm.

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