Tornado: In seconds lives were in turmoil and lifelong belongings were gone with the wind

It was 5pm on Monday, June 3, and all of a sudden it became extremely dark, as if the good Lord had switched off the lights.

In a few seconds torrential rains and gale force winds engulfed us, causing extreme anxiety in our homes, offices and in our vehicles.

I was on my way home from Umhlanga to visit my mum-in-law in Verulam when I got caught in what I thought was a thunderstorm.

I was terrified by the lack of visibility on the road, large hailstones pelting our vehicles, strong winds rocking our vehicles and the traffic going bumper to bumper at a snail’s pace. Every vehicle, without exception, had their hazards on.

I was on the M4 and when I looked out at sea, all I could see were a colony of dark clouds coming towards us. It was beyond our grasp, as if this was out of a Steven Spielberg movie. Mother Nature was angry and was punishing us.

The blue Indian Ocean that we know was not visible and the dark clouds, which we later learnt was a tornado or a twister, or a combination of both. Little did I realise that this five minute tornado was going to wreak absolute havoc, mayhem, devastation and destruction.

The tornado sped through the ocean ripping through South Beach Road, La Mercy through Desainagar, destroying through the gated estate of Sahiti, flying over Seatides, removing the roof of the Seatides School and Emmanuel Church and in its wake, destroying homes and the environment.

The tornado then turned inland and devastated Sandfields, Naidoo Road and Fairbreeze, and the low cost township of Magwaveni. Homes were destroyed, roofs torn apart, vegetation wiped out and infrastructure debilitated.

Little did we realise the extent and magnitude of this force of nature.

Fifty-five minutes later, I reached my destination in Verulam; badly shaken and drenched to the bone. The rain had not abated. The deluge continued and our ailing infrastructure could not cope. It seemed that we were transported to a perfect tropical storm over a mere 30 minute period.

Homes were not accessible as the roads and sidewalks were covered with debris. Our town was destroyed beyond compare and was inaccessible from outside. Immediately as the rains slowed down, Tongaat activists were on the ground clearing the roads and walkways but the challenge was enormous and some roads remained closed for over a day.

The same night, the Tongaat magical dream team went into overdrive and set up their command centre at the Vishwaroop Temple hall in Plane Street. This team and venue were the centre for the flood relief programme of 2022, the Social Unrest of 2021, and the Covid-19 Pandemic of 2019.

Meals and relief were provided over these periods. During the floods, meals and water were provided to all families over the seven month period when Tongaat was without water, as the Water Treatment Works was destroyed.

This team of volunteer activists, whose roots were in the freedom struggle of the ‘80s, executed a relief campaign with military precision and was certainly comparable to the best in the world. You could call them the GOG of Tongaat. It's their credibility and tenacity that saw tons of relief pour into the small Sugar Town of Tongaat from Day 1.

Groceries, blankets, toiletries, clothing, pet food, baby toiletries, fruit and vegetables, disposable crockery and cutlery, mattresses, toys and water all snaked their way to Tongaat. The people of South Africa and abroad opened up their hearts to the people of Tongaat.

The empathy and sympathy of people grew in leaps and bounds when visuals of the extent of damage reached the living rooms of people of South Africa. People cried, showed their love and embraced the sufferings of the people and donated generously.

The next day I cried when I drove through Watson Highway and saw the destruction of the trees and vegetation, which formed an avenue of God's grandeur to the Indian Ocean. This natural roadway was over 60 years old.

On day 2, we visited Magwaveni, Sandfields, Naidoo Road, Jan Roz township, Fairbreeze, Seatides, Desainagar and La Mercy to survey the extent of the damage. We were broken-hearted as people's lives were in tatters.

In seconds, their lives were in turmoil and their lifelong belongings gone with the wind. We cried as we saw our town destroyed, devastated and damaged, unimaginable that it could happen in South Africa.

I visited ward 9 in New Orleans in the USA after Hurricane Katrina devastated the city. While no experienced more extensive damage, Tongaat experienced far more destruction from this short tornado.

We call upon Trevor Noah, Charlize Theron, Elon Musk and the international community to help rebuild Tongaat, help rebuild the lives of our people.

Our thoughts and prayers are with the families of those who died. Our support goes out to the families that were traumatised during this debacle as we help rebuild this community. Our urgent task is to help rebuild homes that were destroyed, providing building material and labour to excelerate the rebuild programme.

Thank you to all our sponsors and donors for your magnanimous contributions to alleviate the sufferings of our communities. We salute all of our volunteers who give their time and energy to this humanitarian effort. Loving all and serving all is the guiding motto, God bless Tongaat. Nkosikile iAfrika.

Logie Naidoo is the former eThekwini Municipality speaker