Durban — Even though their house got ripped apart by the tornado, a temple dedicated to Lord Shiva was untouched.
The couple, Yogie Naidoo and Ram Pillay from Sandfields, oThongathi, whose neighbour, Rennisha Gounden died when a wall fell on her, said they were grateful to be alive.
“Despite the strong winds that destroyed our homes, our temple has not moved a bit, not a statue or a tile was moved out of place. Other temples in the area were also not destroyed – that is the power of God,” said Naidoo.
A nurse at Dr Pixley, she has lived in her house on Rama Drive for 17 years and both she and her husband said this was the first time they had experienced anything quite like this.
“I was sick on Monday, so I didn’t go to work. It was about 4 o’clock and I had just finished taking a shower. I have a shower area outside because during Covid, when I returned from work, I would disinfect outside, So I just came inside from that shower when the tornado started… the door was still open.
“I was getting sucked through the door until my husband came and pulled me into the passage and held me against the wall. Everything was shattering and flying around us. My husband saved me. If he wasn’t there, I wouldn’t have made it,” said Naidoo.
Pillay said it was like watching a movie, all the sounds were intensified.
“The sounds were like special effects – glass was breaking, tiles were flying, alarms were going off and all you could hear was the wind howling.
“When it was over, you could hear people screaming and crying. You were convinced you were going to die.
“We looked outside. Our garage roof was gone, the walls collapsed and the car was smashed,” said Pillay.
Naidoo said it was heartbreaking hearing her neighbour screaming for his wife, who had a wall fall on her.
“At that moment, we couldn’t find shoes or anything but we still managed to get outside through the back door.
“When we got there it was too late, nothing could be done. It took us half the night to get her out of the road. The rain was coming down hard and we couldn’t see anything.”
When the couple started really looking at their house, they could see the path the tornado had taken and how the house was hit.
“There is a mirror in the room, you can see the shards of the window that went through the mirror like a spear. I was here during the flooding, I narrowly escaped with my life.
“I told Ram this morning, ‘I cannot live here anymore’, I will not be at peace.
“We had water, now we had wind, will fire be next? I feel too broken to be here,” said Naidoo.
They said the eThekwini Municipality helped remove fallen trees and volunteers helped clear the yard, but, “many people came as spectators”.
“In the end we had to do the tough work ourselves,” she said.
Sunday Tribune