Strong wind shakes sleepy Groot Aub

A STRONG wind blew off the roofs of two houses at Groot Aub on Tuesday afternoon.

‘I was in the house with my son when I heard a very loud noise and the roof was gone,’ said Babsie Cloete.The family bought the house a year ago and when the August winds started they regularly walked around the house to see if there were any loose corrugated iron sheets.’We inspected the roof so that we could give immediate attention if there was a problem but there was none,’ said Helmuth Cloete.The wind had been blowing the whole of Tuesday and in the afternoon there was a strong gust of wind which folded the back part of the roof over the front part.It ripped off electric cables and broke the wooden beams in the roof, in the process tearing apart the ceiling and cracking the walls.’The wind folded the roof in two like you would turn the page in a book,’ said Cloete.The couple are unemployed and although a lot of damage occurred and they have no idea as to the way forward, they are grateful that no one was hurt. ‘We are also happy that it was rather our house which is made from bricks than a shack which was blown over. The roof sheets might have really hurt someone,’ she added.The roof of a second house was damaged when about 20 corrugated iron sheets were blown loose, twisted and some damaged. Some of the wooden roof beams were also broken.John Diergaardt said about three sheets were twisted so badly that they need to be replaced. The others he could just fasten again.