It was a ‘grey day’ …
Survivors of the 1948 tornado recount their memories of that day
After the article on the tornado that had hit Roodepoort on 26 November 1948, the Record was inundated by readers wanting to share their memories of that event .
Rose Walker, 77, who now lives in Roodekrans, remembers the day of the tornado very clearly as it was her ninth birthday.
“It started out as a normal day and I remember sitting in class at school, looking out the window. My first thought when I saw the clouds was that they looked funny,” Rose said.
After school she went to the train station to meet her mom who returned from work. In the waiting room her mom gave her her birthday present. “It was a red raincoat, with a separate hat. I was so thrilled – not realising what an appropriate present it would turn out to be!” she recalled.
Rose and her mom ran from the station to their house in the midst of the hail storm and tornado. Her mom held onto tightly the whole time. “What I remeber best was the frightening noise that made me want to hold onto my mom the whole time. And then, just like that, there was this eerie silence – and greyness,” she said.
“Luckily the tornado did not damage our home too much as most of it missed us, but the other residents were not so lucky. My father was a builder and he, together with my brothers, went to the other neighbourhoods and assisted by either rebuilding or cleaning up,” Rose said
For Rose, the most amazing thing about the whole tragedy was the help and compassion among the members of the community. “The Indian shop owners brought blankets, groceries and other items to the people who were affected. Everyone came together and helped where they could,” she recalled.
George Rosowsky was 12 years old when the tornado hit. “I remember standing on the steps of the old Roodepoort Synagogue, waiting for the service to commence when I noticed a dense cloud of red dust in the dusk air. The sky was darkening and it appeared we were in for a heavy storm so I decided to make my way home on Nefdt Street,” said George.
On his journey home, the hail started falling, with the stones bigger that any he has seen before. He used the pine trees as cover as he ran home. “As I opened our front door, our square carpet in the entrance hall was rising up in the air – like a magic carpet,” he said.
What stood out most for him, is a family friend from Johannesburg who had heard about the devastation on the radio, arriving at their door with blankets, candles and a few groceries. Like Rose, he also remembers the spirit among the community and the generosity of the Indian traders. “Even the Boy Scouts and Girl Guides helped and the community members made sandwiches and coffee for everyone who flocked to help. If something like this should happen today, I am afraid it would be much different,” George concluded.
Rosemary Powell, 80, has been a resident in Georginia since 1946 and was about 12 years old when the tornado struck.
She said her mom had to fetch her dad at the train station. When her mom had driven about three quarters of the way to the station, the storm broke, with the wind rocking the car from side to side. The ticket operator told her mom that the trains were being delayed at Langlaagte and she should rather return home as soon as possible – if she still had a home to return to.
Rosemary and her baby sister were at home with their domestic worker and grandmother. “The hail stones were very big it broke all the kitchen windows. We went to sit on the lounge floor with cushions over our heads. We were so frightened!” Rosemary recalled.
After the storm had calmed down eventually, she ran outside and called her grandmother, “Come look – the roofs are off the houses!” According to her, their house was not damaged too much by the tornado, except for the broken windows from the hail stones and the roof sheeting turning upwards at the corners.
Rosemary is currently residing at the Tornado Retirement Village, which is where ‘Tornado Square’ was in 1948. “I will never forget that day. Every time we have a storm with strong winds – especially in November – I always think to myself ‘I hope it is not another tornado!’” Rosemary said.
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