Shortly after 1pm last Monday, a tornado cut a path from Newcastle, KwaZulu-Natal, to Utrecht, about 45km away with minimal damage done.
However, the “wedge” type tornado that huffed and puffed in and around oThongathi later that afternoon blew many houses down, damaged schools and infrastructure, disrupted the lives of 7 000 households and killed 12 people, according to the Office of the Premier. A year ago, a tornado ravaged about 50 houses in Inanda, with no loss of lives recorded.
Kevin Rae, chief forecaster, Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) at the SA Weather Service, said historically, many South Africans had the opinion that tornadoes are fairly rare, or at best, uncommon phenomena.
“Historic records dating back to the 1800s indicate that tornadoes occurred from time to time, especially over…