Landspout In KwaZulu-Natal Kills 7 Including A Teenage Girl

Seven people, including a teenage girl, have lost their lives in the Landspout that wreaked havoc in KwaZulu-Natal.

According to the official report, out of seven dead bodies found - two were women in their twenties and one was a teenage girl. These bodies were found in a canal on Bayhead Road in Durban, as per SABSNews. One person has been reported missing.

KZN Cooperative Governance spokesperson, Nonala Ndlovu, said on Thursday that they have received "information from the South African Police Service that two more bodies have washed up at the Bayhead area," which is an addition to "five bodies that have been recovered over the past two days."

Ndlovu confirmed that a total of seven bodies have been recovered till this point. However, he shared that there is no information about where the bodies originated from, adding that they "are waiting for further details from SAPS."

While initially there were reports of a tornado that led to flooding across large parts of KwaZulu-Natal, the South African Weather Service (SAWS) confirmed that it wasn't a tornado but a landspout.

SAWS explained that landspouts and tornadoes do look very similar as both phenomena manifest themselves as a dark, spinning vortex or tube extending from the base of a cloud, adding that both phenomena can cause wind damage.

This landspout damaged housing structures and properties due to strong winds, SAWS said, SA NEWS reported.

"Tornadoes typically cause damage across a much greater range of the EF scale, from EF0 (minor damage) right up to EF5 (catastrophic damage), whilst wind damage due to landspouts or waterspouts tends to be much less severe," the weather service explained.

The heavy rainfall caused by the landspout has resulted in damaging around 70 houses in the eThekwini Metro and 110 houses were partially damaged. More than 552 people were affected by the incident and more than 150 people have become homeless.

Residents living in a small town, Folweni, in the province of KwaZulu-Natal blamed the government for this tragic incident, which took place on Tuesday.

"Every year when the floods start, I am always affected because my furniture gets damaged as water floods my entire house and all my electrical items get damaged," one of the residents said. "This is not the first time this has happened. We are always promised by authorities that this ravine would be fixed," SABCNews reported.

Another one said, "They promised us that the pipes would be fixed, water managed to get in through the windows. We would like the government to intervene and assist us with fixing the road that slides the water through into our houses. We need bigger pipes in the ravine. We also want authorities to move us into a safe place where we can live in peace."

A resident named Phumlani Mthembu noted that this is the third time his house has been affected due to floods. He disclosed that he purchased new furniture after last year's flood and he still has all the receipts.