- Hail the size of tennis balls caused havoc in Komani.
- Residents in Komani experienced major damage to their property and vehicles.
- Parts of Komani are left without electricity after hail-storm.
Residents in Komani were left to pick up the pieces of shattered glass, repair their damaged roofs, and assess the damage to their vehicles after hail the size of tennis balls and strong winds caused havoc in certain parts of the town on January 9.
Komani resident, Adré Gainsford-Bartis said that the Top Town and Central area of Komani was struck by the hail while the surrounding residential areas did not experience any hail.
“Many of the houses in Top Town and Central area had broken windows, roof leakage, broken solar panels, and severe damage to their vehicles,” said Gainsford-Bartis.
She further said that electricity was also affected in parts of Top Town and today, January 11, the area is still without electricity because of the storm.
“As a resident, I had damaged windows and guttering and damage to my vehicle,” said Gainsford-Bartis.
The hail storm lasted about 10 minutes.
“The weather changed so quickly and within 10 minutes we had glass pieces falling all over the place,” said Gainsford-Bartis.
She said that the next day on January 10, they had sunny weather, and “it looked like nothing had happened the previous day”.
Enoch Mgijima Local Municipality spokesperson, Lonwabo Kowa said that the hailstorm which began at exactly 17:15 on January 9, saw hail the size of tennis balls shatter a lot of windows.
He further said that in addition to the hailstorm, they also experienced strong winds which resulted in the uprooting of trees with one tree causing damage to a house in the area while a few other trees obstructed traffic.
Kowa said that because of the storm, Sandringham, and Queenstown Central also experienced power outages.
“After assessing the situation, our technicians found that the damage caused by the hailstorm and strong winds was not severe,” said Kowa.
He said that on January 10, technicians were anticipating a similar hailstorm but the town only experienced thunderstorms and rain.
