Residents in New Hanover, north-east of Pietermaritzburg, are picking up the pieces after a tornado left a trail of destruction.
It’s feared lives may have been lost, while hundreds of people have been displaced.
“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.
Watch Weather SA on Twitter said: “Tornadic supercell developed in the Pietermaritzburg area dropping what looks to be a large tornado as well as various reports of severe hail. Instability and wind shear were both supportive of supercells in the area.”
Disaster management teams have been activated and dispatched to tornado hit areas.
His spokesperson Lennox Mabaso: “Our preliminary information indicates that there are a number of people who sustained injuries and they are receiving medical attention from surrounding hospitals. A number of homes have collapsed, trees have been uprooted and the electricity supply has been interrupted. Our teams are working hard to get to the affected communities. We do have reports of possible missing people and we also fear there may be casualties.”
KwaZulu-Natal is still reeling major floods that hit parts of the province earlier this year, claiming several lives.
#Tornado God, please protect your children. Please have mercy upon us. 🙏🏼 pic.twitter.com/anrGkLSu3o
— IG: miss_neo_mabe (@miss_neo_mabe) November 13, 2019
Another look at the #KZNWeather #tornado #worldwx send to me via friend pic.twitter.com/6W1zDSiKnQ
— Trompie 🦃 ☃️🏈🍺 (@BG00276144) November 13, 2019
#Tornado in #kzn. #Mpolweni to be specific, people in their homesteads are still under rubble.#eskom's #MerseyTrainingCenter is destroyed. pic.twitter.com/SRuQZRbRcP
— Nala🇿🇦 (@Gwija3) November 12, 2019
UPDATE: KZN disaster management teams have been activated and dispatched to New Hanover https://t.co/tUDSxiJjyn
Video: supplied | @ecr9495 | #Tornado pic.twitter.com/VC3VQhyJxX
— ECR_Newswatch (@ECR_Newswatch) November 12, 2019