Beachgoers and boaters along Italy’s picturesque Ligurian coast got one hell of a weather show this week.
A massive waterspout formed offshore on Thursday, September 10, near San Michele di Pagana in Rapallo, before spinning across the Gulf of Tigullio toward Santa Margherita Ligure. Dramatic footage captured the dark funnel stretching from the storm clouds to the Mediterranean as boats floated uncomfortably close by.
“The sky suddenly turned black and an enormous waterspout began spinning just a few meters from the coast,” boat operator Paolo Da Pelo told Corriere della Sera, adding that “panic immediately spread” among those watching. Check it out below.
The vortex moved past Santa Margherita before dissipating near Preli without making landfall. Witnesses said it came frighteningly close to a tourist ferry, although no injuries or damage to vessels were reported.
One witness watching from a cruise-ship balcony described the waterspout moving around for roughly 15 minutes while the ship maneuvered away from it. “It would swell up and get small again,” the witness wrote, before it eventually disappeared.
“It was like a scene from a disaster movie,” one local onlooker described online. “The sky went pitch black, and suddenly this massive tornado was just hovering over the water.”
Related: Terrifying Video Shows Tornado Ripping Through Crowded East Coast Beach (Video)
The spectacle arrived amid seriously unstable weather across Liguria. Authorities had issued a yellow thunderstorm alert, while winds at Santa Margherita reportedly reached 74 km/h (46 mph). Some inland areas received as much as 400 millimeters—nearly 16 inches—of rain over two days, producing flooding and overflowing waterways.
Nearly 29,200 lightning strikes were recorded across Liguria between 5 a.m. and 12:30 p.m. the previous day, when multiple waterspouts also developed along the coast.
Da Pelo said he couldn’t remember seeing anything quite like Thursday’s vortex.
“The waterspout was just a few meters from the bay,” he said, “when fortunately it dissolved.”
A close call—and one spectacular piece of footage.
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