Lightning Strikes Two Dead in Bugiri, Uganda

Lightning has struck dead two family members and injured two others in Bugiri district. The incident occurred on Tuesday morning at Bukamboli village in Iwemba Sub County during a heavy down pour.
The deceased have been identified as 32-year-old Alfred Kundu and his 5-year-old son Josy Kundu. Pascal Were, the LC I chairperson Bukamboli village says the duo died instantly after being hit by the thunderbolt at their home.
He says the deceased’s wife Anna Maria Nelina and their three- year–old-daughter Patricia Naliaka sustained burns on the head and hands. They are admitted at Bugiri main hospital.
Nelina says she heard a loud bang before a sharp light cut through the window only for her to realize that her husband and son had been struck dead. She says by the time the incident happened she was busy preparing breakfast.
Godfrey Musimami, the officer in charge of operations Bugiri central police station says the bodies of the deceased were handed over to their relatives for burial.
Musimami has members of the public to install lightning conductors on their houses to avoid similar incidents.

12 killed by lightning in KwaZulu-Natal

Durban -
Twelve deaths by lightning at the weekend, including nine people seeking shelter in a rondavel with a tin roof, brought to 18 the number of lightning fatalities in KwaZulu-Natal in less than a month.
According to Zululand district deputy mayor, Esther Qwabe, the nine victims had sought refuge at a Khoza homestead in the Nongoma area, where they were attending a traditional function hosted by the Khoza family.
Relatives Mboneni Khoza, 47, brothers Mfaniseni, 23, and Hlanganani Ntshangase, 32, relatives Themba Zulu, 55 and Thembinkosi Zulu, 21, and Mfaniseni Nene, 36, were killed when they took shelter from a storm under a corrugated iron roof.
The identities of three more had not been made available, said Qwabe. Two of them had died later in hospital.
Seventeen people in the same rondavel sustained injuries. They were treated at Benedictine Hospital and discharged.
Soon after this incident, two more people were struck dead by lightning in Bhanganoma, also near Nongoma, while another person was killed and 12 injured in a lightning strike in Mbazwana in the same municipality. Their identities were not made available.
Late last month six people were struck by lightning in separate incidents in Colenso, near Ladysmith and in the Vryheid area.
In Colenso a 46-year-old mother, her nine-year-old daughter and her 10-year-old niece died when lightning struck the house they were in.
In the Vryheid area, two women aged between 70 and 80, and a man, believed to be in his sixties, were killed.
Three other women sustained serious injuries.
In Saturday’s tragedies, Nkosentsha Ntshangase, a neighbour of the Khoza family, said it started out hot but in the afternoon the weather suddenly changed to overcast.
“As the thick black clouds gathered, about 26 people ran into the rondavel. Four of those people were my family members. Two of them were killed and the other two survived.
“Two Khoza relatives died. The rondavel and the victims were not burnt but their bodies had taken a different shape and colour,” said the distraught Ntshangase, who is also the family spokesman for the Khozas. He said incidents such as this were not common in the area, and that it would take time for the families to get over the deaths.
Qwabe said: “It is a sad reality that these things happen. We cry with the families. We need to try and exercise some caution in hot weather with sudden gathering of black clouds.
“People should sit down, no activity (should take place) in the house, windows must be opened and there should not be a large group in one room,” Qwabe said.
She said they were returning to the families on Monday to install lightning conductors at the homes of the victims’ families.
The rods, according to KZN government official, Senzelwe Mzila, could cost about R8 000 for a 26m conductor.
“The rod must be taller than the house, any other structure in the yard or trees. In the case of rondavels, a household could require about 16m of the rod. These are found in local hardware stores,” Mzila said.
Jan Vermeulen, senior forecaster at the national weather service in Cape Town, said lightning had been expected in parts of KZN at the weekend.
He said it was dangerous for a group of people to gather in one room during storms. Vermeulen said lightning always entered a structure from the highest point – hence the advisability of conductors.
Co-operative Governance MEC, Nomusa Dube-Ncube, visited the families yesterday. She said: “We are shocked as this incident comes hot on the heels of another lightning incident which left six people dead in the area of Colenso and Paulpietersburg.
“Our expert teams are working around the clock to assist the affected individuals and families.”
She urged people to install lightning conductors.
Dube-Ncube said the province would help the families in preparing for the funerals. Conductors would also be installed in the homes of the victims.
She said counselling was being arranged for the families.

Another lightning strike kills goats

Barely a week after a small-stock farmer lost 71 goats to lightning in Okakarara Constituency another 20 goats and a herding dog were killed by lightning in the Otjinene Constituency. 

The incident happened at Okazapamba village during the wee hours of Wednesday 12 November. According to Kasukoo Kamurongo, a farmer, “We heard a heavy thunder clap and lightning seemed to fill our house. The next morning we found the 20 goats dead in the kraal with their herding dog. All the dead goats had burn marks on their stomachs. The surviving dog and a ram showed heavily swollen limbs.” The owner of the goats, Unomasa Kamutanda Mbaisa was not in the village during the incident, but said that he is so heartbroken to lose everything. “I'm only left with about eight goats, three goats with four lambs and the one ram.” 

Objects struck by lightning experience heat and magnetic forces of great magnitude. The heat created by lightning currents travelling through a tree may vaporise its sap, causing an explosion that bursts the trunk. 

Humans or animals struck by lightning may suffer severe injury due to internal organ and nervous system damage. As lightning mostly seeks the highest structure that can relay the electric charge to the ground it is very important to keep livestock away from trees during a thunder storm.

source: http://www.informante.web.na

Namibia: Lightning wipes out goat herd

A small-stock farmer in Okatjoruu a village in Okotjituoo, Okakarara Constituency, Uaruavi Nguvauva lost 71 goats and a herding dog to lightning and heavy rains last weekend (1 November 2014) between 19h00 and 20h00. 

Nguvauva said on that evening they experienced heavy thunder and lightning and the following day he was told that his goats were struck by lightning. “I was only left with 20 goats with their lambs, the rest of the carcasses we had to bury as we don’t know whether such meat is fit for human consumption,” he said.

In another incident that took place in the village of Vaalgras and Klein Vaalgras in the Karas Region, situated 60km northeast of Keetmanshoop, serious damage to infrastructure was caused by heavy rain and hail last Sunday. The entire town was left in darkness when electrical and telephone poles in the village were demolished, while the roofs of about 12 houses were blown off by strong winds. The rain measured an  estimated 20 to 35mm.

The Vaalgras Primary School sustained serious damage as electrical appliances, including computers were destroyed. Special inspectors from the Ministry of Works and Transport visited the school to inspect the damages and evaluate the cost to cover the damages. The school, founded in 1969, has 160 learners from Grades 1 to 7 and six teachers.


Source: http://www.informante.web.na

Zambia: Lightning kills mother, 33, baby, 2

MUBANGA NONDO, Ndola a 33-YEAR-OLD woman and her two-year-old baby of Kalende in Luanshya’s Maposa West died after being struck by lightning.

Copperbelt commissioner of police Joyce Kasosa said that Joyce Kampumbula and her baby Mwafwenyeo died on Monday (03/11/2014) around 13:30 hours after being struck by lightning during a downpour.
She said the incident happened when Ms Kapumbula, who had the toddler strapped on her back, entered a grass-thatched hut for shelter when it started raining.
“But lightning struck the hut instantly killing the two,” Ms Kasosa said.
She said another person who was with the deceased sustained minor burns and was treated at Thompson Hospital and discharged.
The bodies are in Thompson Hospital mortuary.



Source: https://www.daily-mail.co.zm

Zimbabwe: 60 Police Recruits Struck By Lightning

21 October 2014

At least 50 police recruits escaped death by a whisker after a tent they were using during training at Lowdale Training Centre in Shamva was struck by a bolt of lightning, injuring three of them last Thursday.

While official figures indicated that there were 50 recruits and three were injured, impeccable police sources at Morris Depot said there were 60 recruits and 15 of them were injured, eight seriously.  The sources said of the eight seriously injured, six were still admitted at Morris Depot Camp Clinic by yesterday, while two were at Parirenyatwa Hospital. The sources said the bolt of lightning struck while the recruits were on a shooting training session.

But police spokesperson Chief Superintendent Paul Nyathi yesterday said all the affected recruits had since resumed training. "Three recruits sustained minor injuries and were taken to Parirenyatwa Hospital for further management," he said. "They were admitted for two days and later discharged."

The incident involving recruits from Morris Depot occurred between 6pm and 7pm, while the 15 injured were all females. The number of instructors who were accompanying the recruits could not be established, but seven of the recruits were examined and discharged after their degree of injuries was said to be minor. Although details were still sketchy by yesterday, police sources said the recruits were conducting a shooting exercise at the farm as part of their training. They were struck by lightning following rains that were experienced in some of parts of the country last Thursday.

The Herald understands that recruits usually undergo one-week training sessions at the farm, conducting shooting exercises with FN rifles and other weapons as part of their training. This was the first incident in which recruits and members of the police are struck by lightning during training in the country.

Several people have been killed, while others were injured after being struck by lightning in recent months and years. In February this year, several people were left homeless after five homesteads were struck by lightning in Muzarabani. Last year, 38 people were struck by lightning across the country during the rainy season.

Lightning is described by experts as a powerful sudden flow of electricity (an electrostatic discharge) accompanied by thunder that occurs during a storm. The discharge will travel between the electrically charged regions within a thundercloud, or between a cloud and another cloud, or between a cloud and the ground. The charged regions within the atmosphere temporarily equalise themselves through a lightning flash, commonly referred to as a strike if it hits an object on the ground. There are three primary types of lightning: from a cloud to itself (intra-cloud or IC); from one cloud to another cloud (CC) and between a cloud and the ground (CG). Although lightning is always accompanied by the sound of thunder, distant lightning may be seen, but may be too far away for the thunder to be heard.

Source:

http://allafrica.com/stories/201410210740.html

Lightning strikes 9 pupils in Tororo, Uganda

Tororo- Nine pupils at Abubakari Primary School in Tororo Municipality were on Monday (20/10/2014) admitted in critical condition to Tororo hospital after they were struck by lightning.

A doctor at the hospital Andrew Opete said the children, who had been unconscious, had gained stability. “We are doing everything possible, in fact, they are already out of danger,” Dr Opete said.

Those admitted include Hahfa Binti Rasul (P.7), Ibrahim Walugo (P.6), Kefas Gonyil (P.4), Edrisa Hifude (P.5), Abdu Wahab Kato (P.5), Eddi Ojambo (P.4), Abdushakus Swale (P.4), Araphat Kakule (P.6) and Swaibu Wasswa (P.6).

According to Ms Rose Atabong, a teacher at the school, said the children had been playing in the school compound when lightning struck.

“It was not even raining and the children were just playing in the compound,” she said.

However, the school does not have lightning arresters, which contravene the Ministry of Education policy guidelines.

Tororo Municipality inspector of schools Patrick Ereboi blamed the school for failing to install the arresters, saying: “We inspected Abubakari P/S early this month and recommended that the school installs a lightening arrester and fire extinguishers for the children’s safety. But we are surprised that they haven’t put those facilities in place up to now.”

Only nine schools out 15 in Tororo Municipality have lightning arrestors.

Source: www.monitor.co.ug