Tornado confirmed to have claimed two lives in KZN

Two people have been reported killed and as many as 20 or more were left injured after a tornado hit the Mpolweni settlement near Wartburg in KwaZulu-Natal on Tuesday afternoon.

ER24 spokesperson Ross Campbell said in a statement that paramedics arrived on the scene at 5.20 pm after having received a call from Disaster Management and Search and Rescue.

“Two adults were unfortunately declared dead on the scene. ER24 set up a triage area and treated and transported another 9 patients for minor to moderate injuries to various hospitals in the area.

“Provincial also transported a further two bringing the total injured on the scene to 20.

“An adult woman who had suffered serious injuries as a result of losing control of her vehicle during the storm was treated with Advanced Life Support interventions before being taken to Mediclinic Pietermaritzburg for further care.”

Power lines were destroyed and numerous animals were also injured or killed.

“The Fire Department and SAPS were also on the scene. The rescue effort was called off at 23:53 last night and resumed again this morning.”

Video footage of the tornado went viral on social media on Tuesday.

“At this stage, we can confirm that there was a severe thunderstorm over New Hanover, which developed and formed a tornado. The winds that were driving the storm was quite strong, ranging between 25 and 37 km/h and eventually, a tornado was formed,” forecaster Wiseman Dlamini said.

The South African Weather Service issued a watch for severe thunderstorms over eThekwini, uMshwathi, Umvoti, and Nquthu in KwaZulu-Natal moving towards iLembe, King Cetshwayo and uLundi, with possible hail and heavy rain.

KwaZulu-Natal residents have taken to social media to share videos and pictures of what appeared to be a tornado.

@StormReportSA1 #Tornado 20 km from #Pietermarizberg KZN taken 20 minutes ago from 1 of our Surveyors,it is to big to send the video,eould like to fireard the video on whtsupp dm with your nr. pic.twitter.com/ixymnraiqL

— Corné du Preez (@cornedupreez1) November 12, 2019

https://twitter.com/paphiwe/status/1194281625003188224

Severe thunderstorms were also observed in the southeast of Alice moving towards the Ngqusha LM and Buffalo City Metro and were still expected over Intsika Yethu LM, Engcobo LM, Amathole DM and OR Tambo DM in the Eastern Cape, with possible hail, heavy downpours and damaging winds.

“Severe thunderstorms are observed over Richmond, Pietermaritzburg, Dannhauser, eDumbe, Vryheid and Pongola LM (KZN) moving eastwards, with possible hail and heavy rain that might lead to localised flooding,” said the SAWS.

The SAWS said in a statement on Tuesday that the first significant summer rainfall could lead to potential flooding, especially in KwaZulu-Natal, as well as the extreme eastern parts of Mpumalanga and Limpopo.

High rainfall totals had been recorded across KwaZulu-Natal as showers were expected on Wednesday.

“Accumulated rainfall amounts for Thursday and Friday could exceed 100-150mm in places over KwaZulu-Natal,” it said.