by When the Tembisa Tornado hit Ekurhuleni, east of Johannesburg late on Tuesday, it left 200 houses without roofs, and double the number of residents displaced in the Winnie Mandela settlement and surrounding areas.
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After checking that our home insurance polices are up-to-date and comprehensive, this has left us wondering about the damage faced by homeowners as well as the municipality where the tornado hit.
More specifically, the Tembisa Tornado damaged many public structures and vehicles, including:
- four ambulances at Tembisa Hospital
- Phumlani Mall
- a filling station
Watch the video below
The day after the tornado hit, Premier David Makhura, accompanied by Ekurhuleni Mayor Mondli Gungubele visited the affected areas to determine the extent of damage and offer emergency interventions.
Gungubele, however, has said that they are still assessing the damage and the final audit report of the damage will be completed by next week.
“Due to the magnitude of the damage, we can’t have the report ready in 24 hours. The final report will be done by next week,” he told media.
Premier Makhura said government was helping the affected families to rebuild their shacks as an emergency intervention. The city is providing salvage sheets as an interim measure to cover roofs and to prevent further damages to the affected properties.
JHB – #Tembisa #Tornado the destruction at Phumlani Mall
— Rob Byrne (@TrafficSA)
“Our team will remain in the area to restore services such as electricity. We are hopeful that by the end of today, the power will be restored. It’s incredible that there were no fatalities in this tragedy. We, however, take the incident seriously. Our social services is offering counselling to the affected families”.
Assessing Property Damage after a Tornado
If your house (or car) is damaged in a catastrophe event like Tembisa, you should follow these steps:
- Ensure your family’s safety first and foremost
- For house damage, turn off gas or electricity boxes where safe to do so
- Take photographs or videos of the damage where safe to do so and date these
- Call your insurance company to arrange for an assessor to view the damage
- If there is any disagreement about the cost to rebuild a house, you need to hire an independent assessor
- Discuss with your insurer how to budget home improvements into the rebuilding process where desired
Take a look at Tornado Tembisa
pic.twitter.com/JwpJi8Lsbv We are so not used to this. Crazy weather in SA. #tornado #tembisa
— myownjourney_sa (@myownjourney_sa) July 26, 2016
