The community of Nzhelele was left stranded last Saturday, after numerous houses were damaged by a devastating storm.

The storm hit houses in villages such as Matanda, Rabali, Dzanani Migavhini, Mawoni, Biaba, Raliphaswa and other surrounding areas, causing extensive damage.

At the time of going to press, the number of families affected by the storm had not yet been finalised by the disaster management team of the Makhado Municipality, who were still accessing the damage.

Speaking to Mirror this week, the spokesman for the Makhado Municipality, Mr Louis Bobodi, said that the situation was uncontrollable, but, as usual, they had sent the disaster management team to access the damage of the affected families. “Our disaster management team is currently busy allocating tents and food parcels to the affected families.”

Bobodi further encouraged businesspeople, not only around the Makhado Municipal area but in all parts of theVhembe District’s municipal jurisdiction, to get involved in assisting those affected. 

In an effort to engage the Vhembe District Municipality and also to find out if there was a contingency plan in place, as many areas in Vhembe had been affected by the storm, the spokesman for the Vhembe District Municipality, Mr Ndivhuwo Mamathuba, was contacted several times, though he was not available for comment.

One of the affected residents, Mrs Sarah Mukwena of Matanda village, whose two-roomed house was destroyed by the storm, said that she had no place to hide, as the house that she trusted was blown away. She added that “The storm was very strong in a way that the walls in one of the rooms even collapsed. We are lucky that we were not injured.” The unemployed mother is now staying in a shack that she managed to erect with the remaining corrugated iron that she recovered after her house was blown away.

Schools, shops, churches and other business buildings in the area were affected, while trees and electricity poles were also blown down.