Ten people have died as a result of lightning strikes in separate incidents across KwaZulu-Natal in just one week.
|||Durban - An electric storm in KwaZulu-Natal killed three people at the weekend, bringing the total to 10 people who have died as a result of lightning strikes in separate incidents in the province in just one week.
The provincial government has now promised to speed up the roll-out of lightning conductors in areas prone to severe electric storms.
The latest incident occurred at uMzimkhulu, on Friday, when three people were killed and dozens more injured following an electrical storm.
Local government spokesman, Lennox Mabaso, said more than 80 households suffered damage from the storm.
This comes after six people were killed by lightning at KwaMachi, near Harding, on Thursday.
In a separate incident, a 28-year-old woman died when she was reportedly struck by lightning in her Ndwedwe home last Sunday.
Mabaso said a team of disaster management personnel led by the local Mayor Mphuthumi Mpabanga went door-to-door visiting the affected families and provided support.
KZN MEC for Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs, Nomusa Dube-Ncube, extended her condolences to the bereaved families.
Dube-Ncube, who visited some families during the week, has also ordered that more lightning conductors be provided to the affected areas, and also sent additional disaster management teams to give support.
“We are deeply saddened by this latest tragedy, which happened soon after the double tragedy of KwaMachi in Harding. We call on the public, particularly in the rural areas, to exercise caution as we are in the middle of the summer season, when incidents of this nature tend to occur most frequently,” she said.
“We will continue to experience such unpredictable weather conditions as a result of climate change. Unfortunately, these are acts of nature and beyond our control.
“Our duty, however, is to be on alert and minimise the loss of life. Our disaster management centres are always on standby.”
According to the department, natural disasters, especially lightning, have killed more than 100 people in the province over the past four years.
Daily News