The tornado near the Palace Pier Photo Pete Machin

This was the incredible sight which greeted people on Brighton seafront yesterday.A giant waterspout which twisted perilously close to the city.

Early risers grabbed their cameras to record the phenomenon which appeared soon after dawn and lasted for about ten minutes.

The twister travelled from west to east past the West Pier and Palace Pier before fizzling out over the golf course at Rottingdean.

A spokesman for the Met Office said: "It could potentially have caused a lot of damage if it had come inland." In 1998 and 2000 tornados wrecked homes at Selsey, causing millions of pounds worth of damage.

Witness Fin Maclean, 25, a doorman at the Funky Buddha Lounge on Brighton seafront, had just left work at 6.45am when he saw the waterspout about a mile offshore. He said: "It was an amazing sight, like a vacuum cleaner above a big puddle. "Water was going up everywhere and the spray was really big."

Pete Machin took photographs from the window of his seventh- floor flat in Embassy Court, King's Road, Brighton. He said: "It was like a black cloud with a funnel underneath and kept getting bigger. "It then started moving quite fast out towards Peacehaven."

Shaun Duncan, a concierge at the DeVere Grand Hotel, Kings Road, said: "It was quite something to see, with the chimney coming down and it whipping the sea up. "I've never seen anything like it."

Frank Considine, of Chailey Avenue, Rottingdean, saw it come in from the sea and on to the golf course. He said: "We were a bit anxious as it got nearer, to see if it would come on to land because they can cause quite a bit of damage. But when it hit the cliffs it dispersed along the golf course."

Coastguards issued a warning to shipping after the waterspout was spotted.

The Met Office spokesman said tornados formed when hot, moist air hit cold air to form a cloud which rotates. He said there were about 33 tornados a year in Britain.

See The Tornado captured on Film (The Argus)

BBC Footage of the waterspout

ITV Local - submitted footage

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