An 81-year-old woman was killed and at least 15 other people injured after a freak storm swept through Ntabankulu‚ Mount Ayliff and Mount Frere in the Eastern Cape on Wednesday.
Hundreds of homes in as many as 50 villages were damaged. About 12 families across the district were left homeless after their homes were destroyed by heavy rains‚ accompanied by gale-force winds.
Several bridges linking villages to the urban centres and schools also suffered damage during the storm.
Alfred Nzo district authorities who are currently visiting several affected villages said the damage possibly ran into millions of rand.
District municipal spokesman Ndabuko Masumpa said the deceased‚ Anna Sokoyi‚ from Nqalweni village in Mount Frere was sitting with her granddaughter in one of her houses when it collapsed.
“She died after bricks fell on top of her‚” he said.
Masumpa said the district’s disaster teams were still busy on the ground trying to assess the damage.
“According to preliminary reports‚ about 50 villages have been affected. We are still getting calls from frantic communities even now.”
Masumpa said ambulances were also finding it difficult to access some villages to reach some of the injured as many bridges had been washed away.
Wednesday’s carnage comes less than a week after another storm left a trail of destruction in Mount Frere and Ntabankulu on Saturday.
81-year-old woman killed‚ 15 injured in freak storm in Eastern Cape
An 81-year-old woman was killed and at least 15 other people injured after a freak storm swept through Ntabankulu‚ Mount Ayliff and Mount Frere in the Eastern Cape on Wednesday.
Hundreds of homes in as many as 50 villages were damaged. About 12 families across the district were left homeless after their homes were destroyed by heavy rains‚ accompanied by gale-force winds.
Several bridges linking villages to the urban centres and schools also suffered damage during the storm.
Alfred Nzo district authorities who are currently visiting several affected villages said the damage possibly ran into millions of rand.
District municipal spokesman Ndabuko Masumpa said the deceased‚ Anna Sokoyi‚ from Nqalweni village in Mount Frere was sitting with her granddaughter in one of her houses when it collapsed.
“She died after bricks fell on top of her‚” he said.
Masumpa said the district’s disaster teams were still busy on the ground trying to assess the damage.
“According to preliminary reports‚ about 50 villages have been affected. We are still getting calls from frantic communities even now.”
Masumpa said ambulances were also finding it difficult to access some villages to reach some of the injured as many bridges had been washed away.
Wednesday’s carnage comes less than a week after another storm left a trail of destruction in Mount Frere and Ntabankulu on Saturday.
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