KUCHING: A freak mid-day thunderstorm wreaked havoc in Kampung Buntal near here yesterday, uprooting trees and sending zinc roofing sheets flying hundreds of metres away.
AFTERMATH: Civil Defence Department personnel remove an uprooted tree which, fell on a house.
Relating the incident to reporters, villagers said the storm started slightly past noon with strong winds causing all the damage.
One woman related how while she was busy preparing lunch for her family, a large tree in a neighbour’s compound got uprooted and fell on the roof of her kitchen.
“Luckily, the tree didn’t crash through the roof,” said the middle-aged woman, who preferred not to be named.
She said it was fortunate that no one in the village was injured during the storm.
Another resident spoke of how the zinc sheets on his roof were blown away by the strong winds, which forced him and his family to cover the exposed section with canvas as protection against heavy rain.
Later he drove around Kampung Buntal and eventually found his zinc sheets, some 200 metres away.
A team of Civil Defence Department was present to help residents clear debris from fallen trees which blocked most of the roads in and around the village.