South African Tornado Destroys Communities

A tornado ripped through semi-rural communities on Tuesday afternoon around New Hanover, outside Pietermaritzburg, KwaZulu-Natal, injuring dozens and destroying homes.

The storm resulted in the deaths of a couple after the roof of their home collapsed whilst they slept in Inanda.

The electricity company Eskom reported damage to its Mersey substation which, according to Joyce Zingoni, Eskom’s communications and stakeholder manager for the KwaZulu-Natal province, “led the 33kv Mpolweni feeder to trip”.

She further added that teams had been sent to the site and were currently waiting for the storm to subside before they would be able to assess the extent of the damage.

Several parts of the province have been experiencing extreme weather conditions, already exceeding monthly rainfall figures, though South African Weather Service forecaster Jan Vermeulen explained this was not unprecedented.

One person was killed over the weekend after they were struck by lightning.

The province is known to experience “frequent storms, large hail and rain” in November, he said, but it looked like the tornado had blown over, with no indication of it returning.

KwaZulu-Natal’s largest city, Durban, has been affected by a number of serious weather patterns in recent years.

70 people were killed and a further 1,000 were left homeless after heavy flooding in April, focusing President Ramaphosa to cut short his visit to the Africa Union Summit in Egypt.