THROUGH the Disaster Relief Emergency Fund (DREF), the Lesotho Red Cross Society (LRCS) provided basic items to families severely affected by wind storms that ravaged Sehlabathebe in Qacha's Nek from August 26 to 28.

The LRCS Disaster Management Coordinator, Maine Makula said the Society’s rapid assessment team discovered that there were a number of houses that were blown away by strong winds, leaving scores of people totally homeless.

As the assessment continues amongst the 10 districts in the country, he said Qacha’s Nek was mostly hard hit, with a total of 510 families affected.

The society also provided the victims with mental health and psychosocial support, aimed at soothing their stressed minds and broken hearts, for improving their well-being and to help them cope with adversity during and after the crisis.

The area chief of Sehlabathebe, Chief ’Matheko Makhaola said the wind damaged a lot of property and posed life-threatening danger to people and their animals, among other things.

One person was injured during the wind storms and was admitted to hospital where she is reportedly recovering well.

Chief Makhaola said the storms left most of the affected people without homes.

While winds are frequent and usually benign, she said the effects of the windstorms have potential to harm people and destroy their properties, either on their own or in conjunction with other weather conditions. 

She also noted that they are at the moment not able to predict when and what they would do if the storms were to return, adding however that staying safe and minimising wind damage is a matter of staying alert and responding quickly when high winds are present or predicted.

She therefore thanked LRCS for its efforts of reaching out when her people were in need.

One of the victims Khahliso Nkoebe said his home was blown away by the strong winds, leaving him and his family homeless.

He said although the wind was too strong, he did not think it would cause the kind of damage it did.