An emergency housing team from the Department of Human Settlements has been dispatched to ascertain the extent of damages caused by a storm in Nongoma in KZN on Friday.

Several homes and various establishments were destroyed.

Human Settlements Minister Mmamoloko Kubayi says their preliminary assessments indicate that several households in Ekubuseni, Gomodo and Holinyoka were badly affected and scores of residents were left homeless.

“After the completion of these assessments, our Emergency Housing Unit will intervene based on the four categories of emergency housing interventions provided by the department.

“This means they will provide the affected families with building materials, and provide all homeless residents with temporary and emergency accommodation. They also construct temporary residential units for all destroyed mud houses.

“The fixing of all damaged formal houses will be done after the National Home Builders Registration Council (NHBRC) has completed structural assessments,” Kubayi says.

She has directed her department’s officials to ensure that affected households are assisted as a matter of urgency.

“We have roped in one of our agencies, [the] NHBRC, to help the team assess the integrity of all structures that have been affected,” she says.

One of the affected establishments was the Salvation Army’s church building. The church’s hall, residential quarters, and tenants’ accommodation were blown away during the incident, and the church’s roof was also damaged.

Territorial commander of The Salvation Army, Southern African Territory Commissioner Torben Eliasen, says they are still devastated to see the damage caused to their premises.

On Friday, Zululand Observer warned residents in the northern parts of KZN to be on high alert, as a level 2 weather warning for severe thunderstorms was issued by the South African Weather Service.

Storm hits Middelburg

A severe thunderstorm also hit Middelburg in Mpumalanga last night.

This morning, Middelburg Observer reported that the extent of the damage is still being determined, with an increasing number of damaged houses and buildings being reported.

@middelburgobserver

Trees that were struck by lightning in last night’s storm #storm #lightning #fire #weather #middelburg

♬ original sound – MiddelburgObserver – MiddelburgObserver