By: Kelvin Chiringa
Omaheke regional governor, Pio Nganate, has said that the cattle town of Gobabis is now getting restored to order thanks to the community’s intervention after a hailstorm battered the town over the weekend.
The hailstorm left a trail of destruction, felling trees that blocked roads as well as destroying the town’s signature identity, the bull.
Part of the town also reported power outages.
Although they anticipated injuries from among the residents, the governor said none had been reported to him by Sunday.
“The Gobabis municipality and the civic community have come to the town’s rescue by restoring order. Trees have been removed. The bull has been removed and given to the safe hands of people who have pledged to look at it and make sure that that symbol of our pride comes back to its rightful place.
“On the other hand, the community has come up in large numbers, especially the business community that has assisted with the town’s cleaning. So, we must thank the community that has pledged money to ensure the restoration of Gobabis. The town will be clean again,” said the governor.
In the meantime, no reports of destroyed homes or families in dire need of shelter had been reported to him by Sunday afternoon.
Sheriff Sean Naude, a crime-fighting ranger with the Namibia Marshall Rangers, has cautioned that strange weather patterns will likely mar the festive season.
He reported catching three puff-adders daily every week, a sign that they are being affected by a change in the weather patterns.
Namibia’s rainy season has coincided with reports of typhoons in the Philippines packing winds of close to 200Km/hr. And leaving behind trails of ruin and more than 300 000 displaced.
Another natural disaster has left parts of Malaysia underwater, with the United States of America’s Kentucky ravaged from a tornado’s blow last week.
Naude has said the drastic changes in the weather might mean that motorists will have to stop if they are to come across hailstorms during their journeys to various holiday destinations.
He urged against resisting storms along major highways as well as cautioned against packing under trees, which are typical conductors of lightning.
“We are experiencing some really weird weather patterns at the moment. Windhoek also has had a bit of rain, and then they went away, and while we were fighting fires the other day at the Steenhuisen area, it suddenly started raining and killed all the fires. And then the next day, it was as if it never rained.
“And I can see it with the snake movement. I’ve never had so many snake-calls in the whole seven years that I have been catching snakes for the ministry, and very strange weather will be coming our away. And with all this happening around the world, remember energy doesn’t disappear. It transfers and moves and has a ripple effect. So, whatever has happened with the typhoons and hurricanes, that is making a ripple effect,” he said.
