Preliminary assessment: Storm kills at least five people, wounds 48 in Maputo city – TVM

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Preliminary assessment: Storm kills at least five people, wounds 48 in Maputo city – TVM

1:12 CAT | 25 Oct 2016

TVM

Five people died and 48 were wounded in Maputo city alone, as a result of yesterday’s storm, according to a preliminary assessment reported by TVM at 21h30m today.

In fact, torrential rains and strong winds hit Maputo in the early evening yesterday, causing the death of at least four people in the city’s Marginal neighbourhood. They died in minibus crashes attributed to the poor weather. Several other passengers suffered injuries of varying degree, and at least two light vehicles were involved in collisions.

In central Maputo, Marginal, Julius Nyerere, Eduardo Mondlhane, Samora Machel and Karl Marx avenues became practically impassable. Traffic lights, billboards and access roads were affected by the strong gusts and thunderstorms.

People caught in the city at the start of the two-hour storm were reduced to hitchhiking or taking ‘my-love’ open vans in their attempts to get home.

The storm damaged infrastructure and blew over trees in various city neighbourhoods, destroying cars, homes and businesses and impeding the movement of vehicles and people. Fallen trees not yet cleared by the authorities were still causing traffic jams this morning.

Many in other parts of Maputo province spent a horrific night, with families in Mukhatine spending the night in the open or sheltering with neighbours due to the heavy rain and strong winds.

After an afternoon of intense heat, the bad weather caught residents by surprise, many still at work. Some families have been hit for the second time this year. Victims report having lost almost everything, their property destroyed by rain in partly collapsed homes during the storm.