HEAVY rains which were accompanied by strong winds left a trail of destruction in Midlands province with Gweru Provincial Hospital being damaged.

Part of the roof of the recently commissioned Centre Excellence at Gweru Provincial Hospital was blown away, while some vehicles were destroyed after being crashed by trees.

Midlands Provincial Medical Director Dr Mary Muchekeza however, assured the nation of normal services despite the unfortunate incident.

“We experienced an extensive hailstorm yesterday for a very short time. Unfortunately, some trees fell over the buildings. The building is centre for excellence for patients that are being treated for HIV and Aids using anti-retroviral therapy. The damage from our preliminary assessment as a team, shows that it was not extensive. What was extensive was the storm. The damage to the building is not going to disrupt any service delivery as far as we are concerned. So our message to the community is that they can still continue to come to Gweru Provincial Hospital for their services,” she said.

Government urged the local authority to cut down trees which have outlived their lifespan, while pledging support for rehabilitating the damaged building.

“I would want to urge the local authority, to trim tall trees mainly the big and old trees, and in the essence of beautification our city. They should also go a step in collaboration with forestry commission so that they re-green the city. This must be done in a way that they put new trees and also appropriate species in cognisance with the climate change that we are experiencing nowadays. We are also urging the communities, even private parties, to also trim their trees and cut down most of those old trees in their properties. During hailstorms, it is not appropriate to park vehicles under trees,” highlighted Provincial Civil Protection Unit chairperson,” Mr Charltone Murove.

The country experienced some hailstorms over the weekend which led to the destruction of property, with a building collapsing in Harare killing one person, injuring six and damaging property.

ZBC News