Heavy storms wreak havoc in Boipatong
ELM is pleading for patience from all affected communities and sincerely apologises for any inconvenience caused.
BOIPATONG.- Heavy storms have once again wreaked havoc in Boipatong, destroying infrastructure.
The incident took place on Wednesday, January 10. During the disaster, a woman and child were badly injured after a tree fell on their shack, leaving them entrapped inside.
Both mother and child were rescued by members of the community and subsequently taken to hospital.
Trees continued to fall in various other places and further damaged infrastructure in the area.
When Sedibeng Ster visited the area, residents were seen picking up the pieces of what was left following the damage.
Raising their concerns, residents reported that they feared for their lives as the area has many trees that might fall at any given time due to heavy storms.
“Our hope is that the Emfuleni Local Municipality will assist by cutting down these trees as they have started to pose great danger.” Another complaint from residents came after corrugated iron sheets from a church structure flew into peoples yards, damaging their property and cars.
Speaking to Ster North, community member Teboho Sakwane said his car, wall and house window were left damaged after the sheets flew from the church structure and straight into his yard.
Sakwane said that luckily, none of his family members were outside when this happened as they could have been badly injured.
Sedibeng Health Department’s spokesperson, Portia Gibson says both the mother and child are in a stable condition.
Emfuleni Local Municipality Media Relations Officer, Chuchi Radebe says: “The municipality has noted the unfortunate incidents of falling trees due to recent heavy rains. Most of these incidents happened across the municipality with Boipatong, Tshirela and Vanderbijlpark areas being hit the hardest.
“ELM Parks Department is looking into finding workable solutions to ensure that these kind of incidents are minimized if not totally eradicated in the future.Our teams are attending to all fall sites to remove the trees however, on account of continuing rains and challenges of accessing fall sites with heavy machinery, the teams are making little progress.”
ELM is pleading for patience from all affected communities and sincerely apologises for any inconvenience caused.
