Minister of Human Settlements Mmamabolo Kubayi will be sending engineers to properly assess the damage to homes following Tuesday’s storm in Durban.

Kubayi said the department will also be looking into the provision of building vouchers to help families to rebuild their homes.

The minister, KZN Premier Nomusa Dube-Ncube and eThekwini Mayor Mxolisi Kaunda yesterday led a government visit to the community of Inanda to assess damage.

In Inanda, 36 people spent the night at the Maoti Community Hall. There is one reported fatality in Zwelisha where a man was washed away by raging waters. Search and rescue teams continued searching for him yesterday.

Speaking at the hall, the premier echoed the minister’s words, adding that temporary accommodation would be provided to some displaced families.

Mayor Kaunda

Kaunda said the city’s rescue and emergency teams worked throughout Tuesday night and they responded to more than 100 calls for assistance.

“They rescued people who were trapped in their properties and on the roads, especially in the PINK (Phoenix, Inanda, Ntuzuma and KwaMashu) area. Other affected areas include Pinetown, St Wendolins, Nazareth, New Germany, Westville, Reservoir Hills, Umkomaas, Mbumbulu and Folweni.”

Kaunda said the city’s multi-disciplinary teams such as water, electricity, roads and parks are in various communities to ensure that services are restored and that infrastructure is repaired swiftly. Many areas lost power, but technicians have begun restoring it.

Some roads remain closed after being waterlogged. These include Bayhead, Brickfield, M7 Bellville, and Stapleton Road.

Resident Mbali Ntshangase said she had no hope that the government would assist her as she is still waiting to be assisted from last year when her home was also damaged by the floods.

“We see people who don’t need the help receiving building material while we shack dwellers have to figure it out on our own. The government promised us building material last year and till today we have been waiting.”

A tornado just swooped through Bhambayi Township in Durban, leaving peoples houses destroyed.
Please be safe 🙏🏾 pic.twitter.com/zdLSvFhR2Q

— Konke_Mbatha ♠️ (@Konke_Worldwide) June 27, 2023

Landspout, not tornado – Saws

The South African Weather Service (Saws) has since clarified the weather phenomena was not a tornado as suggested, but indeed a landspout.

In a media statement, it is said that ‘landspouts and tornadoes may look very much alike, [but] their formative processes are widely different’.

“The formation of a tornado requires a ‘parent thunderstorm’. Interestingly there is no evidence to suggest that any electrical storms were active in the Inanda and Phoenix areas during mid-afternoon yesterday [Tuesday], when the landspout was observed. No eyewitnesses mentioned either lightning or thunder.

“Moreover, despite cloudy conditions with rain being observed throughout much of the day at King Shaka International Airport (approximately 15km NNE of Phoenix) no thunderstorms were observed,” the statement read.

The weather serviced added that the severity of damage – measured on the Enhanced Fujita (EF) Scale, which is used to ‘assess storm damage due to landspouts, waterspouts and tornadoes’ – is on the ‘lower end’.

“Based on photographic evidence to hand, the South African Weather Service rates this event as an EF1, associated with wind gusts well in excess of 100km/h.”