8 perish from lightning, drowning in Niassa

This rainy season in Niassa, at least 8 people to date have lost their lives in part to due to lightning strikes ,and drowning .

The fatalities took place in the course of the victims  crossing rivers or sheltering under trees in the Mandimba, Marrupa, Mavago and Mecula districts.

Maria Isabel Cavo,delegate of the National Institute for Disaster Risk Management and Reduction in Niassa, made this data public during an interview by Rádio Moçambique.

Given the situation and with the approach of tropical storm GAMANE, authorities is advising the people to remove goods from riverbanks ,  in the districts of Majune, Muembe, Sanga and Lago, where the Gamane is expected to strike with great  intensity.

The delegate of the National Institute of Meteorology, in Niassa, Tomás Inácio, advices the population to take precautionary and safety measures in the the face of of lightning strikes this is in direct contrast with what the local people believe in: that a person can be struck by lightning when dressed in red, or, as a consequence of the lightning being a product of bewitchment ( by a person).