Sandstorm rips Gobabeb apart

A STORM, with winds reaching over 100 km/h, ripped through the Gobabeb Training and Research Centre about 80 km east of Walvis Bay on Sunday, causing damage estimated at hundreds of thousands of dollars.

The centre’s manager, Albertus Visser, said the storm could be seen in the late afternoon approaching as a gigantic wave of sand and dust rushing towards the centre at high speed. “We tried to close what we could, but it was approaching very fast, and before we knew it, it was ripping through our centre,” Visser told The Namibian telephonically yesterday.He said the wind, which was carrying along stones and trees, ripped the roofs off the centre and destroyed important weather-monitoring equipment.A downpour of about 20 mm followed the storm, drenching books, printed research data and computers.According to another Gobabeb member, John Guittar, the worst of the storm lasted for about 30 minutes, although periodic rains and gusts of wind are still hitting the centre.Besides the 15 staff members at Gobabeb, the storm also took a visiting group of 20 political science students from Spain by surprise.Fortunately there were no injuries reported, according to Guittar.Although similar storms have been reported in the past, the damage caused by the latest was the most extreme yet.”We tried to close what we could, but it was approaching very fast, and before we knew it, it was ripping through our centre,” Visser told The Namibian telephonically yesterday.He said the wind, which was carrying along stones and trees, ripped the roofs off the centre and destroyed important weather-monitoring equipment.A downpour of about 20 mm followed the storm, drenching books, printed research data and computers.According to another Gobabeb member, John Guittar, the worst of the storm lasted for about 30 minutes, although periodic rains and gusts of wind are still hitting the centre.Besides the 15 staff members at Gobabeb, the storm also took a visiting group of 20 political science students from Spain by surprise.Fortunately there were no injuries reported, according to Guittar.Although similar storms have been reported in the past, the damage caused by the latest was the most extreme yet.