10 Year Old Girl Killed In Electrocution As Heavy Storm Damage Hundreds Of Homes at Kauma

10 Year Old Girl Killed In Electrocution As Heavy Storm Damage Hundreds Of Homes at Kauma

A 10 year old girl at Kauma in the capital city Lilongwe was electrocuted while trying to escape together with her family from their house ripped off the roof by strong winds during heavy rains on early Saturday morning.

The rainstorm also damaged and demolishes more than 200 houses in the area leaving many homeless.

The girl Sakira Banda a standard 4 pupil at Kauma primary school was pronounced dead by Lilongwe Police officer’s who rushed to the scene when some residents reported the matter to police.

She was severely shocked when curled by ESCOM live wire hanging on its pole just outside her home at Kauma. The energized wire was cut when a blown off iron sheet roof of one of the nearby house landed on the electric wires forcing the wire to cut and lie on the round.  

“The child together with her parents and other children rushed out from the house when the roof was being ripped off by the winds.” Said a man who stays few feet away from the victims house and saw the incident happening, “That time the cable was sparking and arcing on the ground from that electric pole (pointing at the pole outside the house lived by the girl) but she girl run towards the wire as she escaped from the house. Unfortunately, the wire as it moved by the wind touched her and froze there immediately”

He said the girl was in her blanket soaked by the rains when the storm blew off roof of their house.

Around 02:00 hours on Saturday heavy winds damaged and destroyed some houses and a CCAP church in the area, with many roofing sheets of schools and churches ripped off. Kauma Primary School roof portions and teachers houses, Adziwa Orphanage Centre School block roofs have been blown off.

When I visited the area around 07:00hours victims were seen collecting roofs sheets lying along the streets, some organizing their soaked furniture’s and clothes, and others were on top of their houses trying to reconstruct the roofs.

High winds knocked down the trees, cutting power in the process leaving electric wires and poles lying on the ground and some roofing sheets landed on electric poles and in the trees.

Some victims said starting around 02:00 hours of Saturday when the storm blew off their home roofs they remained outside soaking in the rains up around morning when the rains stopped.

Though the storm has caused damages particularly on property however, Police said they have recorded very few serious injuries from the incident.