'Run!': killer wave warning came too late for 93-year-old woman in Wilderness

As they turned their backs to the ocean after stopping to take photos, somebody shouted “run”. 

It was too late. An enormous wave crashed over the parking lot. 

The storm surge that battered parts of the South African coastline on Saturday swept 93-year-old Jo Hartman, her daughter and a friend off their feet at Leentjiesklip in Wilderness  on the Garden Route. 

Hartman, a retired primary school mathematics teacher from Bloemfontein, did not survive the deluge.  

“She loved the ocean,” said her son Paul Louw. 

The South African Weather Service said the storm surge unleashed waves of up to 9.5 metres, which damaged buildings, beaches, vehicles and claimed at least two lives. A human skull washed ashore in Jeffrey’s Bay. Seven people were injured when a wave crashed into a Southbroom restaurant in KwaZulu-Natal.

Louw, the youngest of three siblings, told TimesLIVE Premium his mother’s death was a “freak accident”. He was at home in George when he received the devastating news.

“My mother, sister and a married couple who we are friends with went down to the sea to take photos and as they got there they saw they couldn’t go down to the beach as the waves were aggressive, so they stood among the cars,” he said. 

“As they turned around, walking back from the parking, someone told them to run, but a big wave had already hit them,” he said.     

The wave swept his mother about 150m across the parking area. His sister Ronell sustained two broken ribs and bruises. Their male friend was swept under a car by the force of the water and sustained lacerations to his head and face while his wife was not injured. 

Hartman was a mathematics teacher for 27 years and when she moved to a retirement home in the Free State, children who struggled with their homework would still call on her for assistance.   

“We lived and grew up in Bloemfontein, but 33 years ago I moved to George while my younger sister and mother stayed in Bloem,” said Louw. 

“After her teaching years she was in a retirement home for 17 years, but when she moved to George six years ago I felt closer to her than I did in Bloem. We'd visit her every weekend and spend time with her.   

“We received hundreds of messages of condolences from people in Bloemfontein, she was really loved by many people,” he added.     

Paul said his eldest sister Rita would fly to South Africa and the family would bid farewell to a loving mother. 

In another incident related to the storm surge, the body of a man, in his late 60s, was washed ashore on Sunday morning at the Seekoei River causeway between Paradise Valley and Aston Bay in Jeffreys Bay.

Police spokesperson Priscilla Naidu said it was suspected he drowned in rough seas on Sunday.

“While curious onlookers were watching the huge, fierce waves at Supertubes beach in Jeffrey’s Bay, a skull was washed ashore,” she said.

The identity of the man is known to the police and an inquest docket has been opened.  

“The next of kin must still be traced and informed. So far no-one has come forward,” said Naidu.