BY REGINALD KANYANE

The Democratic Alliance in Lichtenburg  convey their message of support and thoughts to everybody who was affected by a hail storm that hit the area last night, Thursday 3 September 2015. The DA said they have already started an on-site investigation and can report that houses, buildings hosting national companies and various small businesses suffered infrastructure- and water-damage due to the severity of the storm.

DA Jacqueline Theologo said the economic hub of Lichtenburg was hit the worst and the town’s newly built mall, banks, retail stores, offices as well as smaller businesses flooded, lost their roofs and it is alleged that, in some cases, businesses will suffer further financial losses while repairing buildings.

“The DA can confirm that the roof of the hall at the local high school has considerable damage, hence making the building unsafe. Water damage was also reported at other schools in the area. At 8:00 Friday, the hail was lying as deep as 30cm at places,” Theologo said.

Local DA councillors will visit the disaster struck areas during the course of the week and conduct their own in-depth investigation.

“We will furthermore oversee that the Ditsobotla Municipality follow the disaster management plan as prescribed in the Disaster Management Act of 2002. The DA will urge them, in writing, to inform the Ngaka Modiri Molema District Municipality of the storm. The local councillors will also monitor to ensure the District Municipality does a proper assessment of all damages,” she said.

According to the Disaster Management Act, the District Municipality must determine whether it was indeed a disaster. Then the necessary contingency plans and emergency procedures that is applicable must be initiated.

The DA said they will also oversee that efforts are initiated to assess the magnitude and severity of the storm as soon as possible.

Ditsobotla municipal spokepserson, Pius Batsile confirmed that the torrential rains caused damages that worth R1m and as the municipality, they monitoring situation.

-TDN

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