Climate change is real, and it’s causing strange weather all over the world.

In Venice, they’re experiencing the worst high tide in more than 50 years, and closer to home in KwaZulu-Natal, a tornado has ripped through the Midlands.

Residents of Mshwati district were hit hard by a tunnel of wind that tore through the area, ripping up trees and destroying property.

The KZN department of cooperative governance and traditional affairs (Cogta) sent disaster management teams to the area amidst reports of missing people and fears of possible deaths.

TimesLIVE reports:

“Scores of people” were injured, said the department, adding that homes and public infrastructure had been damaged.

“Preliminary reports received by the department indicate that a number of people who sustained injuries in the incident are receiving medical attention from surrounding hospitals.

A number of homes have collapsed, countless trees have been uprooted and the electricity supply in the area has been interrupted. Our teams are working hard to provide support to the affected communities,” said Cogta MEC Sipho Hlomuka.

The supercell tornado coupled with winds travelling at about 20 to 35 kilometres per hour. Some folks managed to capture footage of the tornado, which was posted to Twitter and Facebook:

More footage:

UPDATE: KZN disaster management teams have been activated and dispatched to New Hanover https://t.co/tUDSxiJjyn

Video: supplied | @ecr9495 | #Tornado pic.twitter.com/VC3VQhyJxX

— ECR_Newswatch (@ECR_Newswatch) November 12, 2019

Another video:

The tornado has resulted in two confirmed deaths and 20 injuries, at the time of writing.

The storm also caused damage to Eskom facilities in the area.

Eskom KZN communications and stakeholder manager Joyce Zingoni confirmed that their infrastructure had been affected by the storm.

“The storm was in the area around Mersey substation, which led to the 33kV Mpolweni feeder to trip. Teams are on site and awaiting the storm to subside before evaluating the damage caused,” she said.

People have been urged to treat all installations and electricity poles as live, and to keep their distance.

Rescue services, the Fire Department, and SAPS are working to help those affected by the storm.

[source:timeslive]