Freak storm rips homes apart

Published Mar 17, 2015

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Kimberley - Kimberley residents have started picking up the pieces after Sunday’s freak storm tore through several parts of the city, leaving a trail of destruction.

Rain and strong winds uprooted several trees and ripped apart several shanties.

Two Floors residents are among those who count themselves lucky to be alive after the wind destroyed their shanties, lifting the metal sheets into the air and flinging them several metres away.

Dianne Middleton said she lost her entire home as well as all her personal items when her shanty was blown away.

“I was at home with my father, three children and a friend of mine’s daughter when the wind started blowing strongly. I was busy dishing up food when the wind blew the door open. My father grabbed my one-year-old daughter and was holding her. He went to close the door when the roof of the shanty blew off. The next moment the wardrobe fell on him - he was still holding my daughter at the time,” said Middleton.

“I remember seeing my couch flying out of the shanty with my friend’s daughter still on it. The wind threw her against the metal wall of the shanty and she hit her head against the window. My other daughter was playing on the bed and the wind lifted the mattress with her still on it and they both hit the wall.”

She said they immediately ran for cover.

“It was chaotic. The people assisted me and my father. They grabbed the children and we ran to another shanty nearby. The woman inside grabbed the children through the window and we also climbed into the shanty through the window

Middleton said they were left with absolutely nothing after the ordeal.

“We were all soaking wet afterwards. When I went back to the shanty to assess the damage, I saw I had nothing left. All my furniture was washed away in the stormwater canal at the back of the shanty. The wardrobe that fell on my dad was in pieces and the wind had blown away all the clothes that were inside the wardrobe … even all our groceries were gone. I don’t even know what happened to the plates, pots or the food I was dishing up, everything is gone,” Middleton said.

She said her husband, who was at his mother’s house during the storm, picked up the zinc sheets of their shanty.

“Some of the sheets flew into a tree in someone’s yard several metres away. My husband managed to recover some of the sheets but not all of them. There is nothing left of the furniture that was inside the shanty. The cupboards and wardrobes are all broken and the children’s clothes and important documents are gone.”

Middleton added that she was lucky to be alive to tell her story.

“If the wardrobe did not fall on my dad, it would have hit my one-year-old child. Fortunately no-one was badly hurt. My friend’s daughter was treated for shock, but she is luckily also OK.

“The biggest work that has to be done now is to repair our lives,” she said.

Another resident, who was at a friend’s shanty when it also blew away, said he still could not believe they made it out alive.

Justin Linghan said he was visiting a friend when the storm started brewing.

“There were five of us in the shanty. The wind started blowing and it started raining heavily. The door flew open as a result of the wind and I got up to close it. As I tried to lock it, the entire shanty collapsed.

“The next thing I knew, we were all on the floor and the shanty was gone. The metal sheets cut both my wrists and my back. Most of the furniture inside was washed away in the stormwater canal nearby.”

The Sol Plaatje Municipality said mop-up operations following the storm were underway in the city.

Municipal spokesman, Sello Matsie, said that plenty of damage was caused by trees that were uprooted or had branches blown off during the storm.

“About 250 trees were uprooted or damaged, several blocking various roads. Our emergency services have been out since Sunday late afternoon trying to clear the roads. They will continue to work around the clock to clear all the trees and branches,” said Matsie.

Several areas were also left without electricity after falling trees damaged electrical wires.

“Our parks and garden section in the municipality will be busy with more clean-up operations today and tomorrow,” Matsie said.

He said the municipality was also busy trying to locate residents who had lost their homes.

“During storms such as these, the municipality, in partnership with other stakeholders such as social services, assist residents who have been hard hit. We usually provide temporary accommodation at a hall for a day or two and provide them with food. Usually people do not want to leave their homes, however, because they fear their property might get stolen,” he said.

Matsie said no casualties were reported during the storm.

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