On Monday, 3 March, NSRI Durban assisted the emergency services during the heavy storm that rapidly moved over Durban.
A statement provided to NSRI, by Konrad Jones of Netcare 911, follows:
On the afternoon of Monday, 3 March, the S.T.A.R.T. rescue control room received multiple emergency calls from the greater Durban area reporting a huge storm moving in from the East, and which made landfall at approximately 16h00 lasting for several hours, the havoc caused by the high winds, rain and a hailstorm resulted in fallen trees blocking roadways, damage to buildings, roofs and power lines, flying debris, and extensive flooding both in the suburbs and on the freeways.
In response to these urgent calls, S.T.A.R.T. deployed its first responders and K9 unit to the affected areas in the Tongaat, which had been most severely affected by a huge tornado which swept in from the sea, directly hitting the residential area and also destroying a school.
Upon arrival, the teams reported to be faced with the immense task of coordinating who and what needed urgent attention, working closely with emergency services partners from Netcare 911 ambulance services, the SA Police Services, Police Search and Rescue, NSRI Durban and the eThekwini Fire and Rescue Services – dispatching personnel to various parts of the affected areas.
The K9 unit and first responders conducted a thorough search of the school as well as affected homes in Tongaat to find and assist any injured or missing individuals.
The synergy between the first responders and the community was instrumental in efforts such as clearing trees and debris, which enabled residents to safely access their homes and preventing potential further damage and risks to the public.
We are extremely grateful to all who responded to this emergency, including the many members of the community who assisted emergency personnel in their tasks, and the days following will be occupied with damage assessment and extensive cleanup operations in the affected areas.
Our thoughts are with everyone affected by this storm.
Father Abbot
You don’t need a parachute to skydive, but you will need one if you want to do it twice.
Saturn Extreme
A British man on safari walks into a bar far out in the reaches of a game reserve in Southern Africa, he stays at the bar for a while shooting the shit with the bartender and drinking like a fish, he offer to buy the barkeep a round and since no one else is within 2km of their small oasis of liquor the barkeep obliges. The englishman goes off to the bathroom to have a good old go at the porcelain, he\’s back and ready for a few more whiskeys. He\’s just sat down when suddenly in the distance he hears a scream. He looks over his shoulder and dismisses it as nothing, he turns to the barkeep and orders a drink, takes a sip and hears the scream again. He looks at the barkeep who just shrugs it off. A minute or two later he and the barman hear it again and go outside to take a look. They see a lone figure running towards them screaming, he spots them and lets out a cry, RUN!!!!! HE\”S COMING!!!!!
The barkeep and the Englishman both look at the terrified bedraggled sight before them, and try to calm him down, but he\’s completely inconsolable. They give him water and finally manage to get a word out of him but he struggles free from their grasp and run away screaming.
A few minutes later the same thing happens with a whole group of men running in and screaming, he\’s coming, he\’s coming the barkeep grabs hold of one of the men as he tries to sprint past the bar and tries to get information out of him, again no response other than terrified gibberish.
The barkeep and his customer are starting to get worried, they start to pack up before another group of horrified natives run up to the bar most of them flee but one tries to hide behind the bar, the barkeep pulls out a shotgun and points it at the terrified man\’s face, finally managing to coax some words out of him. \”He\’s coming for us, Vernon Koekemoer is coming for us, we have to hide!!! We have to get out of here.\” He gets up and tries to run but the barkeep grabs him, feeling trapped in a panic he grabs the barkeeps shotgun and blows his own head off. The Englishman and the barkeep look at each other starting to really panic now.
They look out of the window and off in the distance they see a tornado coming towards the bar, at the bottom of the tornado they see the hugest beast of a man they have ever seen, as he gets closer they spot that he is riding a rhinocerous and using a crocodile as a riding whip, with each smack of the crocodile across the back of the rhino the louder is screams and the faster it runs, the tornado following it getting ever larger.
The 2 look at each other and start to fortify their position, they\’ve got a gun and they\’re waaay to drunk to run, so they start piling bar stool and tables and anything they can get their hands on to make sure they\’ll be safe when he arrives. They\’re not gonna make it, they can see the man slowing down his rhino, by now the crocodile is nothing but reptile paste on the bruised rump of the half dead rhino, the rhino drops down dead from exhaustion and crashes to the ground right outside the bar the tornado loses it\’s last breath in a cloud of dust as the huge man crashes his way through the make shift barricade and charges up towards the bar where the 2 men have taken shelter, he grabs a bottle of the hardest liquor on the shelf and down the entire litre in 1 gulp, he peers over the bar sobbing and sees the 2 defenders cowering down behind the crates of beer, they look up at the mans\’ face and he stares at them with a look of complete and utter hopelessness, he stares at them for a half second and half screams, half sobs, \”Oh my god what are you still doing here!!! WE HAVE TO GET OUT OF HERE NOW!!!! Vernon Koekemoer is coming!!!!\”