EXPLAINER: SA Weather Service unpacks Inanda 'tornado'
The South African Weather Service says it is busy conducting an in-depth analysis to determine whether a tornado hit parts of Durban on Tuesday afternoon.
The heavy downpours and severe winds damaged some 50 homes and injured two people in Inanda's Dube Village.
At least one person was confirmed to have died in Mayville, while a herdsman is presumed to have drowned after he was swept away by floods while crossing a river in Zwelisha.
Forcaster Thandiwe Gumede says several factors must be considered when confirming a tornado.
"Will have to confirm the wind circulation, the impact that resulted from it, synoptic systems, the exact time the public said the tornado occurred if our models or our tools - if those also show some parameters which contribute to the conditions of a tornado."
She admits the severe thunderstorms could have led to a tornado.
"A tornado results from severe thunderstorms and the synoptic systems that we have in place, which is currently a cut-off low which was to the west of the country. We have a phenomenon whereby we have a cut-off low sends upper air perturbations ahead of it.
"So, based on our weather models, we have seen those perturbations evident on yesterday's models showing that there were some perturbations just around the south coast of KZN, which could have been the contributing factors."
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