Swazi Observer

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HEAVY STORM HITS MANZINI

By Nonduduzo Kunene | 2019-11-12

CATASTROPHIC! This term best describes the situation in Manzini and surrounding areas, as 15 homesteads and school were annihilated by a fierce storm yesterday.

The storm took place yesterday during the early hours of the morning.

The storm did not only destroyed houses but destroyedpower lines and communication lines. Therefore, services in Manzini and surrounding areas were compromised. Meanwhile, in some schools classes were disturbed as they had to seek alternative classrooms for the learners whose classrooms were destroyed.

Salesian High School Principal Petros Horton revealed that both sister schools were affected by the storm as it blew away windows and further destroyed a barrier wall between the two schools.

He said in his school, the Form One classroom was left roofless and corrugated iron sheets were scattered all over the place. Since the storm was accompanied by rains, the rain water soaked some of the items that were in the classrooms. However, he said the high school was better that the primary school. Horton said he was unable to estimate the cost of the damage as they were busy assessing it at the time the report was compiled. Besides the destroyed walls and roofing, communication lines were not functional such as the EPTC landline as well as electricity supply. Meanwhile, the National Disaster Management Agency (NDMA) Communications Officer Wandile Mavuso stated that 15 homesteads were affected by the storm in Manzini. By late yesterday NDMA officers were on the ground assessing the damage. Mavuso said the 15 homesteads that were hit by the storm are from Manzini and surrounding areas. He added that the damage ranged from blown away roofing fallen walls amongst others. He added that the numbers were likely to increase as they were still conducting assessments. The agency had already responded to some of the homesteads by the end of yesterday.

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