waterspout
Villagers in Cofimvaba in the Eastern Cape have been left gobsmacked after recently being treated to a rare sighting of a waterspout weather phenomenon.

Videos showing a breath-taking whirling column of air and water mist circulating over Ncorha dam at Covimvaba's Nququ Village went viral on social media.

In one video, villagers can be heard screaming, claiming it was magic or a signal for the end of the world.

Villager Sibusiso Zonke speculated on Facebook saying: "This could be the resurrection of the dead or signs of the return of Jesus. It is clear it will all begin here in Nququ."


Zonke told News24 that villagers were astonished by the rare event which had reportedly not been spotted in Nququ village before now.

"The community is still in shock and believes this event might be linked to all the deaths that occurred in that dam in the past. This is the dam that merges Nququ and Tsomo rivers," said Zonke.

But the SA Weather Service dismissed the villagers' theories, saying waterspouts were just like any other weather event.

SA Weather Service meteorologist Lelo Kleinbooi, who is based in the Gqeberha office, said:

"A waterspout is defined by the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) as follows: It is normally a relatively small, weak rotating column of air over open water below specific types of cumulus clouds."

She added that if this later moved onto land, unlike the waterspout in question, it would be termed a landspout.

Kleinbooi said waterspouts "usually develop or form below certain types of cumulus clouds (it was a cumulonimbus cloud in the case of Cofimvaba), where winds blowing from different directions meet".

"They are not associated with supercells as it is the case with tornadoes; in fact, water or landspouts are weaker, slow-moving versions of tornadoes."