The community of Midoroni in the Kutama area was left stranded last Thursday after several houses were damaged by a devastating storm.

A church and many houses had their roofs blown away and the storm uprooted numerous trees. Most of the victims are from this poor rural area, where most of the people are unemployed.

According to Mrs Martha Matidza, whose son's three-roomed houses was severely damaged, the wind swept through the village, leaving everyone trying to take cover. Soon big raindrops pelted down. This was followed by loud cracks of thunder and streaks of lightning, which lit the darkened neighbourhood.

The situation worsened for her, as deafening sounds started coming from the roof. She indicated that her son's house's windows were broken by the storm. She added that the walls started to shake and the roof rattled and shook violently. The roof sheets were also torn off.

"All the furniture, blankets and groceries were damaged and my son does not have money to replace or repair them," she added. "I did not sustain any major injuries, but I am extremely shocked," she added. She also mentioned that they had no place to stay, as the house that they trusted was blown away.

"The wind was very strong and one of the walls even collapsed. We are lucky that we were not injured. The estimated damage is close to R100 000," she added.

The spokesperson of the Vhembe Municipality, Mr Matodzi Ralushai told Limpopo Mirrorthat the situation was very bad, but they had already sent members of the disaster management team to access the damage of the affected families. He further encouraged businesspeople, not only around the Makhado Municipal area but in all parts of the Vhembe District, to get involved in assisting those affected.

At the time of going to press, the disaster management team of the Makhado Municipality was still accessing the damage.