A powerful storm that lasted less than 10 minutes tore through Palm Lakes Family Estate and Etete yesterday afternoon (March 6).

Several homes in the estate and Etete’s Khalafukwe informal settlement lost their roofs, while trees were uprooted and furniture scattered.

Palm Lakes Family Estate residents described terrifying winds, heavy rain and large hailstones.

Alastair Adams said the storm struck suddenly while he and his wife were home, just after 4pm.

“Out of nowhere, this crazy wind came up and slammed our windows shut,” said Adams.

“Our garden furniture was blown into our neighbour’s house and one of our chairs was blown down the road.”

He added that hailstones started small but quickly grew to the size of golf balls.

Leon Thistle said the clouds appeared to swirl as if a tornado was forming, while the wind kept changing direction.

“The wind ripped all the fascia boards off my roof and they landed on my friend’s car,” he said.

Palm Lakes Family Estate management could not be reached for comment at the time of publication.

The damage in Etete is currently being assessed, but Ward 7 councillor Blessing Fakazi said he believes about 10 families are affected.

He said Tinley Manor Primary School’s foundation phase building also lost its roof.

He added that electricity cables were damaged, leaving parts of the township without power.

“This is all the information we could get last night. I am going to meet with the disaster team and we will have a full overview later,” said Fakazi.

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