3 children die in hailstorm

THREE children died last week in Masvingo province when heavy hailstorms coupled with strong winds destroyed homesteads leaving more than 300 families homeless, officials have confirmed.

Masvingo Civil Protection Unit chairman who is also the district administrator, Mr Roy Hove, yesterday said the first two deaths occurred on Wednesday last week.

"A seven-year-old Chiredzi boy died after a roof on a house collapsed on him. On the same day, a four-year-old boy from Tokwane- Ngundu was fatally hit by falling roofing sheets in the middle of a hailstorm," said Mr Hove.

He said on the following day, in Mwenezi District, a Form Two girl was fatally hit by pieces of roofing that had been blown off their house.

The Chronicle visited the affected areas in Mwenezi East over the weekend.

A majority of the affected families were destitute as all their belongings, including, small livestock, food reserves, and crops in the fields, were destroyed by the storm.

A couple was nursing head and bodily injuries from falling bricks and roofing sheets and some huge trees were uprooted.

One of the victims in Petronella area's Ward 13, Mr Silabuwa Maselela whose home had its roof blown off and window panes shattered, said his family of six was left with nothing.

"It was on Thursday last week at around 11PM when we had the heavy rains coupled with hailstorm and strong winds, falling. In a flash, we heard the noise of the falling zinc roof sheets. The next thing, we realised the whole roof had been blown off," said Mr Maselela.

He said all the round nuts that they were drying on a rock within the yard, were washed away and their two hectare maize field was destroyed.

"We had to rush to our granary to take refuge. We were lucky that no one was injured in the process but we could sense death as the winds were violent. My 36 sheep, 15 goats were all killed while all six cattle fled from the pen. As we speak we do not have anything to eat. My phone which had some money in the EcoCash wallet, was also washed away," he said.

Muzhanjire Primary School head in Petronela Farm in Ward 13, Mr Admore Gavhure said the pupils and teachers were still to come to terms with the devastating effects of the hailstorm, as houses and classrooms were destroyed.

"We are still in shock, especially considering that, it has not stopped raining since Thursday last week. Three rooms, that we use as classrooms, had their roofs blown off leaving pupils with nowhere to learn from. Three of ten teachers also faced a similar fate, as their houses had roofs blown off and window panes were shattered in the disaster," said Mr Gavhure.

Mwenezi East National Assembly member who is also Zanu-PF candidate for the harmonised elections slated for July, Josbi Omar said he had started mobilising resources towards helping the affected families, restore their lives.

"As you can see the situation is terrible here. I have started to mobilise at least $50 000 or its equivalent, towards reconstructing the villagers' houses," said Omar.

Masvingo province has since last week been receiving heavy rains.