By Starsky Mkhonta | 2019-11-25

A HAILSTORM caused serious destruction in areas around Mthombe, where over 20 families were left homeless.

It was at around 3pm on Saturday when dark clouds were seen and then the whole area was covered and moments later hailstorms accompanied by strong winds started sweeping across the whole area.

It is said families in some of the homesteads were seen moving up and down as they were not sure what to do and others caged themselves in corners of their houses.

While others sought refuge somewhere, others who remained caged inside their houses did not believe what was happening when seeing roofing of the same houses they were occupying being blown away which left them in awe.

The tornado accompanied  by thunder and lightning left others hiding  under beds and tables.

Family members around Ebulekeni and Ekuthuleni were left biting their nails as their houses and other property were damaged.

According to Bucopho of Ebulekeni under Zombodze Emuva Mandla Mndzebele, the hail stones that fell were almost the size of a tennis ball. He said never in his life had he experienced such hailstorms.

The stones were big and windows of some of the houses were shattered and other items such as furniture and  household goods were soaked and destroyed.

“Electricity blackout was experienced and we were left in darkness for the duration of the night. It was a complete disaster as it was not even easy to identify what could be saved from some of the houses in other families, and we had to wait for the next morning to find out what was damaged. Some families had to seek shelter from their neighbours,” said Mndzebele.

Mndzebele said with electricity poles having fallen on the ground, the Eswatini Electricity Company (EEC) team was busy yesterday trying to normalise the situation.

“We had power restored this morning, as EEC made all means to make sure that all the affected families have their power  restored and things returned to normal at 10am, when  power was restored,” said Mndzebele.

Mndzebele said by yesterday afternoon, they were still waiting for the arrival of the National Disaster Management Agency (NDMA)  team to assess the situation.

“As we speak, we are still waiting for the task team to assess the situation as we alerted them yesterday (Saturday) of  what had befallen us. They have not yet arrived and over 20 affected families still have to arrange where they will  sleep,” said Mndzebele.

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