Irma is so strong that it has temporarily drained off beaches in Florida (USA) and the Bahamas in recent days.
Twitter user @Piznack, one of many netizens who shared a video of this strange sight on Long Island beach, Bahamas, wrote: "My family in the Bahamas says Irma has sucked up all the water. That is, there is no water. The beaches and oceans have disappeared.
On September 10, the US National Weather Service (NWS) confirmed that the phenomenon also occurred in Naples, Florida. A public information coordinator in Clearwater, Florida, shared videos of the unusual phenomenon in Tampa Bay.
Angela Fritz, deputy weather director for the Washington Post, confirmed the phenomenon is real and could happen in extremely strong storms like Irma. The storm is so strong that it could change the shape of the ocean over time, according to Angela Fritz.
"In the center of the storm, where the pressure was too low, the water was receded upward. Low pressure is essentially a suction mechanism, and when it is actually low, it can change the shape of the ocean's surface. When the storm pulls water towards the center, it will drain water from the surrounding area," Angela Fritz wrote.
Wayne Neely, a weather forecaster with the Bahamas Meteorological Agency, warned residents in Long Island and Exuma - areas where water recedes from the beaches - to be cautious when the water rises again.
The waters receded in the Bahamas on September 8 and returned the next day.
Hurricane Irma swept across the Caribbean and part of the Atlantic over the past week and made landfall in Florida on the morning of September 10. So far, the storm has killed at least 25 people and forced thousands to evacuate.
