- Supposed tornado moving across the beach on Borkum
A suspected Tornado caused minor devastation on the North Sea island of Borkum's beach. The storm swept in from the sea over a stretch of the west beach and onto the promenade on Thursday, as seen in online videos. According to police, there were no injuries. The German Weather Service is still verifying if it was indeed a tornado. Earlier, the "Ostfriesen-Zeitung" and the "Nord-West-Zeitung" had reported this.
Fisherman Rolf Groenewold from Greetsiel was out at sea with his cutter 500 meters west of Borkum in the morning. "Suddenly my son said 'Look, a tornado'," Groenewold told dpa. "There was a rustling from the clouds that kept getting bigger, and you could see it churning up water." For over half an hour, two more tornadoes formed. "I've never seen anything like it at sea," said the fisherman from Greetsiel.
Videos showed the suspected whirlwind hurling a beach chair around, narrowly missing several people on the beach. Chairs were also tossed around on the promenade.
The weather site Tornadoliste.de classified the storm as a tornado. There was also at least one more suspected tornado, but it did not hit the island.
The meteorological reports confirmed the presence of a Hurricane in the North Sea, which potentially enhanced the intensity of the suspected Tornado on Borkum's beach. Witnesses on the beach described seeing the Hurricane's influence on the suspected Tornado, with chairs being hurled around.
