Johannesburg - A massive and severe thunderstorm that ripped through parts of the Northern Cape has left one school severely damaged this week.
The provincial education department is now reacting swiftly to the incident to ensure that pupils complete their academic year.
The storm occurred on Wednesday, leaving some parts of Brandvlei in the Northern Cape severely damaged, including the Brandvlei Primary School.
The Northern Cape Department of Education said the storm caused extensive damage to the primary school. The department has deployed an infrastructure team to assess the damage to the school building.
According to the department, six classrooms including desks, windows and chairs were extensively damaged. The roof and ceiling of the school block were completely ripped off the school building.
"This is an unfortunate incident and we are grateful that it occurred after school hours, as educators and learners could have suffered severe injuries or even fatalities," the department said.
It added that it would provide immediate assistance to the school in order for learners to complete the school academic year.
The department indicated that it would wait for the assessment report from their Infrastructure Unit to determine the way forward.
Earlier this week, a similar incident occurred in the North West province where four schools were damaged when roofs were blown off during a hail storm, days before the start of the final matric exams.
The SA Weather Service (Saws) warned South Africans that more severe thunderstorms, hail and excessive lightning is predicted for multiple provinces on Friday.
Saws stated that the weather impacts would be heavy downpours, strong and gusty winds, excessive lightning, hail and possible loss of livestock due to lightning. It added that flash flooding may result in difficult driving conditions, especially over dirt roads.
Education