Aftermath of the ‘wind from hell’

Neither man nor beast were spared the full fury of a howling wind which scythed through the Mamello and Vaal Marina communities on Monday evening.

Adele Delport said she and her husband had just arrived home shortly after 6pm when the wind descended on their home with a banshee-like shriek after pelting them with golf-ball sized hail.

“My husband could barely close our front door. Inside the house it looked as if smoke was billowing everywhere, it was white inside,” said Delport.

Peering out of a window, she saw her 100m² garage roof being ripped from the building and flung into the sky where it disappeared into the darkness.

A few seconds later it was back, the corrugated iron slammed down over electricity wires which then collapsed onto the Delport’sroof.

“The entire thing was over in minutes,” Delport said, shaking her head at the power of the wind which slammed their two-ton boat against a wall, and delicately removed a number plate from the front of her car.

Versions of where exactly the tornado came from differ, some residents saying it came off the water, others saying it came over land from Denysville, where a popular photo, but unverified, is doing the rounds on social media showing a massive tornado chewing up the ground.

Wherever it came from, it cut a very narrow but very long and deep path, injuring at least 50 people, damaging 550 homes and leaving 1 100 people homeless, according to Midvaal mayor Bongani Baloyi. Roned Mtshona was leaving his Vaal Marina home to go out when the “wind from hell” hit.

“In two minutes everything was over. I can’t even explain what happened, it just happened,” Mtshona said.

The entire roof was ripped from his residence, and he spent much of the day looking for his clothes which had been flung far and wide.

At the local hardware store run by Jacqui and Mark Spruit, it was a case of doctor, heal thyself, as they stared ruefully at the rear of their newly opened business which had lost a substantial part of the roof.

Mark estimated the damage at more than half-a-million rands, while Jacqui spoke of incredible community spirit as people came together to start sorting out the havoc.

She also spoke of people searching for pets and horses being sucked up by the tornado and reflected sadly on a friend who had to put down three horses, badly lacerated by flying corrugated iron sheets.

A few hundred metres away lay the informal settlement of Mamello.

The discordant ringing of a multitude of hammers broke through muted conversations as people tried to save what they could, and with the threat of a 60% chance of rain hanging over them, rebuild as much as they could.

“I was home at about 4.30pm,” said Ntsebeng Tsotetsi.

“The rain started to fall gently but after a few minutes the hail started coming down. Then my mother told me to climb under the bed because the thing is like a water snake.”

Tin and wood is no match for nature’s power and she watched as entire shacks were torn from the ground and eaten by the encroaching darkness.

“There are only a few houses not damaged here in Mamello. The shacks were destroyed by the wind, and people’s properties were damaged by the rain,” Tsotetsi said, noting it was mainly children who were harmed.

In a community numbed by the violence, eyebrows were still raised when the Red Ants – well known for their own destructive properties – came in to help bring order to the madness.

“About 200 of them are here, and they’re helping us a lot,” said Hennie Oosthuysen of Midvaal Council.

And so it was with a gentle hand the Red Ants made good in the chaos for a change. They were joined by the NSPCA, Red Cross, Gauteng Disaster Management Services and the Suid Afrikaanse Vrouefederasie. Jacqui described the community effort as “amazing”.

The wind may have destroyed homes, but it’s left a community stronger.

– amandaw@citizen.co.za

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