DURBAN - Three people have been killed by a lightning strike in northern KwaZulu-Natal on Wednesday.
KZN Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs MEC Sipho Hlomuka said a lightning strike killed three people from the Mzobe family in Ofafafa in the uBuhlebezwe Local Municipality on Wednesday.
“The reports received by the department indicate that a 69-year-old woman and two children, 10 and 13 years, were killed instantly when lightning struck their home in the afternoon. One person was injured in the incident and rushed to the hospital for treatment,” Hlomuka said.
The MEC expressed his condolences to the family of the victims and said he had assigned disaster management teams to provide support to the family.
“The inclement weather conditions that were experienced by parts of the province yesterday (on Wednesday) uprooted trees and damaged both public and private infrastructure. Disaster management teams continue to assess the extent of the damage in the affected areas,” Hlomuka said.
“We continue to plead with our communities to exercise all caution whenever a weather warning is issued by the South African Weather Service (Saws). These warnings provide crucial information which can help to save lives.”
For Wednesday, Saws had said morning fog over the interior of KZN was expected, otherwise it was expected to be partly cloudy and warm, but cool over the south-western parts. Isolated showers and thundershowers were expected except in the north-east but scattered in the south-west. The wind along the coast would be gentle to moderate easterly to north-easterly, becoming fresh in places in the afternoon.
Daily News