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Eastern Cape residents affected by massive storm seek assistance

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Residents in certain areas of the Eastern Cape are picking up the pieces as a massive storm left a trail of destruction over a large area.

The largely rural Amathole District felt the brunt of the storm on Monday. Mopping up operations have started while the authorities have started the damage assessment process.

Some of the affected residents are however questioning the response they will get from the local authority, saying they only got empty promises during previous storms.

The weather was fierce, but no lives were lost in this area. More than a thousand households are affected by the storm just in the Raymond Mhlaba local municipality.

The towns of Alice, Middledrift and Dimbaza were also hit.

The residents are counting their losses, “As for now l don’t know what will happen because l lost everything. But here and there, l wish there will be someone who may assist me,” laments one resident.

The Raymond Mhlaba Municipality says it’s doing everything possible to assist the victims. Mayor  Zinziswa Rasmeni says resources are limited.

“We are coming from a meeting with Social Development SASSA and ADM we were talking about people that were never assisted in the previous disaster but they are promising they have their records where ever they get their donors they will be able to assist.”

Gift Of The Givers Community Liason Officer, Kwanele Damane says, “As Gift of the Givers we came here with a donation of blankets and food to help with the disaster.”

The inclement weather did claim a life in Mdantsane, a Xhosa initiate was struck by lightning.

‘No hope of receiving assistance’

The community of kwaGaga, outside Alice in the Eastern Cape, is not holding out much hope of receiving assistance from their local government after a storm sowed devastation over the area on Monday.

They say nothing has come of the promises from their local government after a storm ripped through the village in February last year.

Monday’s storm cut a path over the Amathole region and the towns of Alice, Fort Beaufort and Keiskammahoek were some of the areas hardest hit. The wind, lightning and hail left a trail of destruction behind it. The residents here are frustrated.

Mthatha villages

The death toll has risen to six following a heavy hailstorm that wreaked havoc in Mthatha villages. More than 19 people are still in hospital, while hundreds of homeless people say they are still waiting for the government’s intervention.

Many have no food, no clothes, electricity and clean water. Bereaved families say they have no means to bury their loved ones. The Ngolomane family lost their 17-year-old daughter to the storm.

Hailstorm claims six lives:

 

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