It starts as a wispy, misshapen tube far in the distance but within minutes it is a powerful tornado, tearing up the beach less than 1km away.
A ninemsn reader filmed the evolution of the massive twister that struck during a thunderstorm at Stockton Beach in Newcastle, on the NSW mid-north coast, on Monday.
Lightning can be seen flashing around the waterspout as it crosses the coast, churning sand up high into the air and threatening campers.
PHOTOS: Massive waterspout hits land
"It wasn't far from us at all," Geoff Mundi, who was camping at the beach with his wife Chris, told ninemsn this morning.
The couple were on holiday celebrating their 25th wedding anniversary and had decided to set up camp at the beach after helping a driver whose car was bogged in sand.
At about 7pm AEDT Mr Mundi noticed two long trails beginning to form underneath the black clouds over the beach.
"The two of them started to get darker as they reached the water," he said.
"As I filmed, the two of them came together and formed one giant spout and continued towards land.
"Lightning started to appear from the same clouds."
He said he thought it would dissipate before hitting the beach, but it kept going for several hundred metres inland before fading into a cloud of sand.
Yesterday ninemsn published photos of the same waterspout, taken from the other side of the beach.
Cameron Smith and John Holtmann both sent in images of the twister forming and striking land in the distance.
The intense thunderstorm also included rain and hail which lasted until later that night.
Do you have an amazing storm video? Let us know by sending an email to news.feedback@ninemsn.com.au
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