Dozens of homes destroyed by tornado in Inanda

• Dozens of homes and other infrastructure were destroyed by strong winds and heavy rains in Inanda on Tuesday afternoon.
• On Wednesday, many of the affected households are being accommodated in local community halls or are living with neighbours.
• The Minister of Human Settlements promised that professional engineers would properly assess the damage to homes. She also said they would be looking into the provision of building vouchers to assist families to rebuild.

Emergency teams are still on the ground in parts of Inanda, north-west of Durban, after a tornado accompanied by heavy rains and strong winds destroyed about 50 houses and other infrastructure on Tuesday afternoon.

When GroundUp arrived in the community on Wednesday, the roads were muddied and debris from damaged homes was scattered on the ground. While many people were given emergency accommodation at community halls, some were still at their flooded and damaged homes, trying to salvage necessary belongings.

According to community leader Xolani Lushaba, families whose homes were destroyed by the storm had to huddle in neighbours’ homes while others chose to sleep in their damaged homes to hold their belongings safe.

“At least we didn’t maintain any deaths. Honest a few had slight injuries as they were running to the neighbour’s house and fell down,” he said. Lushaba, who is also a community policing forum member, said their hands were very full on Tuesday night with desperate calls for assistance from residents to succor guard their homes.

Gelly Mjoli described when their roof was ripped off and the heavy rain destroyed most of her furniture and other belongings.

“My child and neighbour’s children were all sitting here watching TV. All are primary school learners. They said they saw the roof moving and they went outside to check. But when the wind started to lift the roof, they ran to the neighbour’s house. I’m honest glad my neighbour was home,” said Mjoli.

While we were interviewing Mjoli, Premier Nomusa Dube-Ncube, Minister of Human Settlements Mmamoloko Kubayi, and eThekwini mayor Mxolisi Kaunda arrived to assess the damage to homes.

Inanda resident, Samson Zungu says he slept outside in the cold on Tuesday night to guard his property and belongings after his house was badly damaged by the storm.

When they got to Mjoli’s house, Kaunda assured her that they would assist with repairing her property. Mjoli told them, “I lost everything. My furniture, food and clothes are wet. But I’m glad that no one died. We were 16 in that one room at my neighbour’s house [on Tuesday night].”

Another resident, Samson Zungu said he did not sleep on Tuesday night.

“This thing happened so quick, one minute it was sunny, next there was a strong wind. I quickly grabbed my ID and SASSA card. Before I could execute anything, my roof was gone. Water came in, but luckily I had another room at the back. That’s where most people slept, while I was outside watching the furniture last night,” he said.

In a statement, the municipality said that food, blankets and mattresses had been delivered to those displaced and community halls were opened in areas like Inanda Newtown C, Phoenix, Amoati, Amatikwe and Redfern.

The victims we spoke to on Wednesday were relocated to the Amoati community hall.

Kaunda said the City’s rescue and emergency teams had responded to 100 calls for assistance. He said they rescued people trapped in their properties and on the roads, especially in the Phoenix, Inanda, Ntuzuma and KwaMashu areas.

Kaunda promised that services like electricity would be restored as the team was active working on it.

Minister Kubayi assured the affected residents that her department would be sending professional engineers to properly assess the damage to homes. She said they would be looking into the provision of building vouchers to assist families to rebuild.

Officials inspect one of the homes that was partially damaged by the storm on Tuesday.

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