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  Too close for comfort. The waterspout whirls past two oil tankers. (Photo contributed by reader Liang Meiling)

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  Motorists stop to look at the waterspout. (Photo contributed by reader Liang Meiliang)

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PORT DICKSON: A waterspout, which is a tornado over water, was sighted in Port Dickson last Saturday afternoon (Nov 11).

The phenomenon appeared over the sea in front of the Costa Rica hotel at 2:30 pm.

At that time, two oil tankers were docked at the port. Fortunately, the waterspout just blew right by them.

As it passed by the docks, the waterspout, which ascended into the sky, suddenly changed direction and moved farther away from shore.

It then disappeared completely a few minutes later.

Eyewitnesses Liang Meiling and Lin Xiaomei said they were about to go shopping when they saw what seemed to be a thick white pillar moving over the surface of the sea.

As the sky was overcast at that time, the phenomenon stood out vividly.

They saw the phenomenon when they were near the Shell Sports Club and snapped a few pictures of it with their camera phones.

Regrettably, they did not adjust the focus of their cameras, so the results were not as good as they could have been.

"At that time, we were worried the waterspout might head towards us.

"Instead, it headed towards the Costa Rica hotel. We rushed there in our car and found lots of other people gathered there. Some were taking pictures with their camera phones," said Liang.

Liang said that the waterspout could be seen for about 10 minutes before slowly rising into the air and disappearing. It started raining heavily after that.

Tornados are violently rotating columns of air that can reach tremendous speeds, ranging from 480km/h to 800 km/h.

On the Sept 18, a tornado destroyed 20 homes when it passed through Kuala Lukut. Fortunately, there were no casualties.

However, compared to their counterparts on land, waterspouts are usually small and short-lived. The few that managed to reach land were very powerful.

There is a theory that cannon fire might disperse a waterspout, but it has no scientific basis.