Randfontein ‘tornado’: Dozens injured as clean-up operations continue [VIDEO]

Cleanup operations are continuing after at least 24 people were injured when a “tornado” struck Randfontein on the West Rand.

Gauteng disaster management spokesperson Tshepo Motlhale told The Citizen they are assessing the damage from the storm.

Watch a reported tornado hit parts of Randfontein

Injuries

“We can confirm that in Randfontein, there have been several injuries reported.

“This was due to damages that were caused by the severe weather conditions, as we are aware that there are reports of a tornado event.

“So, as a result, we had a report of around 24 patients who have suffered injuries as a result of these severe conditions.

“We also have a report, although not in Randfontein but in Eldorado Park, where a toddler also was fatally injured following the fall of a tree onto a yard dwelling.

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Relief efforts

Motlhale said they have activated a multi-stakeholder engagement to facilitate response and relief interventions.

“The Provincial Disaster Management Center together with the affected municipalities are coordinating relief efforts.

“We also have activated even national departments such as the Department of Social Development Sassa, Human Settlements so that we can mobilise and provide response interventions as soon as possible to the affected households and communities broadly,” Motlhale said.

Tornado or not

Meanwhile, the South African Weather Services (Saws) is investigating whether the weather incident was a tornado.

“It was not only a whirlwind that we saw over those areas but also large amounts of small hail over most parts of those areas.

“We had severe thunderstorms and we had issued a warning for severe thunderstorms that would happen around the afternoon.

“We were observing storms that were quite, quite severe, so it is possible that it was a tornado around those areas as the whirlwind shows,” Saws meteorologist and forecaster, Lehlohonolo Thobela, told The Citizen.

Investigations

Thobela said they were trying to categorise the type of storm based on the wind speed, as well as the amount of impact it had caused.

“From what we have seen in the observation on the ground, a lot of roofs were damaged and there were cars that got impacted. It’s not only the residents in the flats that got injured but there were also some reports on the ground.

“So it was a tornado based on that and the severe thunderstorms. I would say as we have issued an alert of severe thunderstorms, we expecting these kinds of conditions around that area,” Thobela said.

Another forecaster, Puseletso Mofokeng told The Citizen they are investigating the reports and will issue a statement once the probe is completed.

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