Last week Thursday, a violent hail storm left some parts of Francistown destroyed as it unroofed buildings, residential houses, destroyed signboards and uprooted trees causing blockages on some of the city roads.
The strong wind which began in the afternoon also wrecked havoc as it ruined property in malls like Bluejacket, Galo and Nswazi leading to electricity power cuts around the city.
Some of the residents in different locations, such as the Area S location, were also left homeless as their houses were ravaged by the storm.
Stephen Bedu, a resident of Area S location, revealed that the storm destroyed his houses leaving his family homeless.
“All my houses were left roofless and the most painful part is that I have three children and I am unemployed,” he said.
A street vendor who sells vegetables in the city centre also revealed to the Sunday Standard that she lost most of her products due to the storm. She said that her business closed as she does not have money to replace the stock.
Reached for comment, Francistown Mayor, Shadreck Nyeku, admitted that the storm caused damage to some parts of the city. He said that the Francistown Disaster Committee (FDC) is currently assessing the damage caused by the storm and will then furnish council with a report.
“As for now, I cannot comment further on the damage caused by this storm as our Francistown Disaster committee is still assessing the situation. I would not know if there are any victims for now,” he said.
Several efforts by the Sunday Standard to establish if they were any victims who were injured due to the calamity bore no fruit as the Divisional Commander North, Dinah Marathe, could not be reached for comment.
In 2011, the city of Francistown experienced the same disaster when hail storms destroyed structures and buildings, leaving multitudes of people in Monarch Location, Bluetown and Aerodrome locations homeless.
