Rare phenomenon sucks water from Bahamas beach

A woman in Long Island, Bahamas was shocked when she saw the shoreline had extended much farther than normal, exposing what is usually the ocean floor. 

Twitter user @Kaydi_K wrote on Friday: ‘I am in disbelief right now… This is Long Island, Bahamas and the ocean water is missing!!! That’s as far as they see #HurricaneIrma.’ 

The strange video shows her walking on the exposed ocean floor which is dry and covered in large shells. 

Hurricane Irma, which hit the Bahamas on Friday, is so powerful that it has altered the shape of the ocean temporarily. The shoreline will likely be back to normal by Sunday afternoon.

A video shows the ocean floor exposed at Long Island, Bahamas after Hurricane Irma hit on Friday. The beach is expected to go back to normal by Sunday

Pressure in a hurricane’s center is low and Irma is so strong that it is pulling water into its core, sucking it away from the ocean, according to the Washington Post. 

Deputy weather editor and meteorologist Angela Fritz explained that this also may be the result of what she calls a hurricane ‘bulge’. In the center of the storm, pressure is very low which draws water upward.

She also noted the wind was blowing away from the shoreline on Saturday.  

Terp weather service told the Sunday Express: ‘Winds coming out of the SE would push the water to the NW, but also do the same to the Atlantic, so water wouldn’t fill the void.’ 

Also, the water isn’t expected to rush back like a tsunami. A receding shoreline that exposes the ocean floor is often a sign a tsunami is approaching. 

The International Tsunami Information Center notes on its website, when the sea drains away to not investigate because this is a typical sign of an incoming tsunami.

Hurricane Irma temporarily changed the shape of the ocean after hitting the Bahamas on Friday