Shortly after 1pm on Monday, a tornado cut a path from Newcastle, KwaZulu-Natal, to Utrecht, about 45km away with minimal damage done.
However, the “wedge” type tornado that huffed and puffed in and around oThongathi later that afternoon blew many houses down, damaged schools and infrastructure, disrupted the lives of 7 000 households and killed 12 people, according to the Office of the Premier. A year ago, a tornado ravaged about 50