Birds stripped of their feathers in 1956 Benoni tornado
A tornado swirling through Benoni is nothing new.
A few weeks ago, a tornado ripped through Nest Park, in Bapsfontein, causing property damage to over 130 people’s homes.
The City Times ran an article in a November 1956 edition, reporting on a tornado that swept through a small holding in Benoni Small Farms.
The whirlwind uprooted trees and lifted the roof of an outbuilding on the property of E Kent.
“We heard a loud rushing noise like an express train,” Mrs Kent told a City Times representative.
“It was positively deafening.
“It only lasted a matter of seconds.
“When we went out, we found that 30 fir trees, each about 25 feet (7.62m) high and 15 years old, had been completely uprooted.
“The roof of our servants’ quarters had been ripped off, lifting over a row of trees 30 feet (9.1m) high and deposited some 100 feet away.”
In and around the uprooted trees, lay scores of dead birds, all stripped of their feathers.
A doorknob was found lying in a road, 150 yards (137m) away.
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