WHAT seems to have been a mini tornado swept through several towns and villages in the Eastern Cape last Friday, leaving behind tracks of destruction and several families homeless.
Roofs were blown off, trees and powerlines felled and mud houses collapsed under the force of the gale-force wind.
The tornado struck at around 15:00. Although South African weather spokesperson, Garth Sampson, downplayed it as a sandstorm in a daily newspaper, photos taken by Komani-Karoo Express show the devastation with twisted roof sheets which are normally associated with a tornado.
A multitude of villages suffered severe damage.
Komani-Karoo Express visited areas such as Hertzog, Lower Blinkwater, Adelaide and the villages of Magaleni, Mabheleni and Mlalandle in Fort Beaufort and was met with a trail of devastation.
Other affected areas include Binfield, Bedford, Mankazana, Bergplaas, Hopefield, Hala, Khayalethu, as well as Krwakrwa in the Alice district.
An unidentified man (65) died in Mankazana when a mud house was levelled and in Magaleni near Fort Beaufort, another 65-year-old man, Mzwamadoda Booi, died when a brick wall collapsed on him.
Agnes Booi (60) of Blinkwater told Komani-Karoo Express how the sky darkened as she was sitting outside her dwelling on Friday.
“I suddenly saw a gusting wind swirling in my direction from the Fort Fordyce Game Reserve.
“I had barely bolted my door when all hell broke lose. I was holding on for dear life to the shaking walls.”
Her entire roof was twisted out of position. In the same village, 83-year-old Nomisile Myeko sat shaken in front of her partly roofless home. Twisted roof sheeting was scattered all over the area.
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