AT least 10 Bulawayo residents were seriously injured in Emthuzini Hope Flight after a violent hailstorm hit the area on Wednesday evening, destroying houses and felling trees.
BY ALEXIS SIBANDA / SHARON SIBINDI / NIZBERT MOYO
Acting Bulawayo chief fire officer Edward Mpofu confirmed the incident.
He said the victims were ferried by ambulances to hospital.
“I can confirm that there are about 10 people who were injured in the hailstorm, of which some have spinal injuries, while others sustained serious head injuries, but luckily, no one died,” he said.
“The thunderstorm was really violent indeed because 50% to 60% of the 1 000 houses got badly damaged, while others had their precast security walls and asbestos roofs destroyed.
“These houses are under the Hope Flight Construction programme and victims have already reported to Hope Flight Construction and they have agreed to assist them since they are now homeless.”
One of the victims, who only identified himself as Mpofu, said the storm struck at around 10pm on Wednesday.
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He said police officers came to assess the damage.
The violent storm also uprooted Zesa poles near Brady Barracks.
The poles fell on a haulage truck travelling along the Harare-Bulawayo Road, trapping the driver inside.
Zesa employees worked around the clock to remove the live cables and free the trapped driver.
When Southern Eye visited the scene, Zesa workers were still making frantic efforts to lift the fallen poles and cables.
The truck driver, Lovemore Kawere, said: “I am lucky that I managed to escape, otherwise I could have died because the Zesa lines were live. I was coming from the Grain Marketing Board heading to Harare. I heard something falling over the truck. I noticed it was the Zesa cables which had been blown off by the storm.”
He said he was not happy that the Zesa officials took too long to attend to the scene.
