Irma: Hurricane sucks water from Bahamas beach in rare phenomenon

‘Sea gone dry’

Long Island - no water as 'far as the eye can see' (@Kaydi_K / Twitter)

Video footage has shown how a record-breaking Atlantic storm sucked water from the Bahamas shoreline.

Hurricane Irma, a Category 5 storm which ripped through the Caribbean Islands on its way to Florida and has killed at least 24 people, left bare beaches along the coastline of the Bahamas.

“I am in disbelief right now... This is Long Island, Bahamas and the ocean water is missing!!!” tweeted @Kaydi_K. “That's as far as they see. #HurricaneIrma.”

The two-minute video has been retweeted and commented on more than 100,000 times.

According to the Washington Post, this rare phenomenon is caused by a strong hurricane and resulting low pressure, which sucks water into the core of the storm.

For a few hours or days, a storm can even change the shape of an ocean.

As the wind blew from southeast to northwest on Saturday, the water would be blown away from the shoreline on the northwest side of Long Island.

While some voiced concerns the water would rush back as a tsunami, Angela Fritz, an atmospheric scientist, said the water will likely return slowly, possibly by Sunday afternoon.

Over the weekend more than six million people were ordered to evacuate Florida as the storm moved towards the western coast of the US.

Cuba was hit on Saturday with winds of up to 160mph, the first time the island had suffered such a strong hurricane since 1924.

The hurricane has since been downgraded to a Category 3, but the National Hurricane Centre predicted it would strengthen again as it moved towards the US.