At least 20 people were injured when the tornado passed through Thembisa at 4pm on 26 July 2016, damaging Phumulani Mall in Winnie Mandela section‚ Tembisa Hospital and a Total garage‚ both in Hospital View.
This had made quite a stir among all South Africans as Tornado's are very rare in our country. Or at least so i though until i did some research about the History of Tornado's in South Africa.
While it is difficult to estimate with any degree of accuracy how many tornadoes have been experienced in the country, they are said to usually occur in Gauteng, the Free State, KwaZulu-Natal, Eastern Cape.
Here it goes.....
15 November 1998
A tornado hit Harrismith and turned 750 homes to rubble.
18 January 1999
A violent tornado ripped through towns around Mount Ayliff in the Eastern Cape. Some 25 people were killed. 500 others injured. According to some reports, 95% of people in the area lost their homes. Some experts say that as many as three tornados may have hit the region between 1998/9.
August 1999
A tornado ripped through Surrey Estate, Manenberg and Gugulethu in Cape Town, killing five people, including a baby, leaving 5,000 homeless and injuring more than 180 people. This one here was a special storm, as no one actually saw the twister itself. According to IOL, Cape Town weather office forecaster Steve Medcalf said that although nobody saw a column of spinning air at the time the damage was caused, “in retrospect all signs show it probably was a tornado”.
October 2011
Two tornados ripped through Duduza on Gauteng’s East Rand and Ficksburg in the Free State. One child died and hundreds of others were injured.
Other events this year.......
Heavy rainfall In the Eastern Cape between 25 and 26 July 2016.
According to Garth Sampson for the SA Weather Service, the Eastern Cape has seen heavy rainfall during Monday night, 25 July. A whopping 52mm of downpour was measured in Barkley East at 08:00 on 26 July, while Grahamstown has had 54mm.
In Port Alfred along the Sunshine Coast, 58mm rainfall was recorded on Tuesday morning.
Along with the rain, snow has continued to fall in SA around the Drakensberg Mountains, as well as in Lesotho.
Rain also hit Kwazulu - Natal with a vengeance. Floods all over the place causing millions of ZARand's of damage. Many lives were lost in these tragic events. My condolences to the family members who lost loved ones.
Amamzimtoti, south of Durban was flooded after torrential rains. Image: TrafficSA via Twitter
Major Snowfall on the Drakensberg and other parts of the Eastern Cape making it look like a American Christmas.
These are all events that happened in a country that thought.............. This stuff only happens in movies or other countries. I for one never though that so many things can go down in South Africa, not to mention in a period of 48 hours.
This just shows that Mother Nature does not ask for your approval, blessing or anything for that matter.. She does what she wants, when she wants and how she wants.