Watch: Gales and lightning kill 12 people in Maputo – Government

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Watch: Gales and lightning kill 12 people in Maputo – Government

10:13 CAT | 26 Oct 2016

TVM

Mourning, chaos, despair, panic – the legacy left by about forty minutes of uninterrupted rain, hail and strong winds experienced early Monday evening in Maputo and Matola.

Despair gripped those affected by roads made impassable by obstacles blown onto them by the strong winds. Traffic lights, lampposts, trees and billboards all surrendered before the force of nature. Several roads were completely flooded. Bus stops full of people and passengers transported in trucks, even in the bad weather. It was the struggle for a space to get home as soon as possible.

Most critical were the deaths overnight in Maputo city and province. In all, 12 people died on Monday night from the storm.

Six died in the capital, four when the vehicles where they were traveling in were crushed by falling tree trunks in Maputo’s Triunfo neighbourhood. The figure were given by witnesses who rescued survivors and later confirmed by Maputo health authorities.

Six others people died in various parts of Maputo province victims from lightning and falling trees, Council of Ministers spokesman and Deputy Minister of Health Mouzinho Saide revealed yesterday,

In addition to the deaths, the storm injured over 30 people and destroyed more than 400 homes, the majority in Maputo province. Saide said the authorities would issue a final assessment of the impact of Monday’s bad weather in due course.