Doha:Bié Province Severe lightning strikes have resulted in the deaths of 18 people and injuries to seven others across Bié Province over the past month, as reported by local emergency officials.
According to Angola Press News Agency, Vasco Chioca, head of operations for the Provincial Command of the Civil Protection and Fire Service (SPCB), emphasized the increasing death toll amid heavy downpours during the ongoing rainy season. The extreme weather has also led to widespread destruction throughout municipalities including Cuito, Andulo, Chinguar, Chitembo, and Cuemba.
The thunderstorms have severely damaged or destroyed 396 social infrastructure units, including homes, schools, churches, health facilities, and power substations. This destruction has displaced 1,820 people, who are now in urgent need of humanitarian aid.
The recent fatalities add to an already tragic rainy season for rural families. In September, a lightning strike killed six members of a single family—a husband, his eight-month-pregnant wife, and their four children—while they sought shelter in a hut on their farm in Andulo. Last week, four more members of another family died in storm-related incidents in Cuemba.
Emergency responders have also reported secondary injuries caused by collapsing residential walls, flash floods, and falling hail. In the previous rainy season, lightning strikes alone claimed 46 lives across the province.
