A tornadic waterspout formed in the sea before damaging a mosque when it swept inland in Indonesia.

Residents watched as the swirling vortex sucked up surface water on Anambas in the Riau Islands on Saturday morning June 25.

The sea tornado smashed into the Baitul Makmur Mosque leaving dozens of glass windows shattered and several door frames dislodged. A number of other wooden costal homes were also damaged but nobody was injured.

Nandang Saputra, one of the residents who witnessed the powerful weather phenomenon, said: 'The wind vortex slowly grew, and became very large. Residents ran for shelter. The vortex rose high into the clouds. It was scary.'

Two types of waterspout tornado form in the sea - fair-weather waterspouts and tornadic waterspouts, like the kind seen in the video.

Tornadic waterspouts have the same characteristics as a land tornado. They can form over the water or move from the coast to the water.

These kinds of waterspouts form during severe thunderstorms and because of the strong winds, they have a less-defined shape than the slender elephant-trunk funnel shapes of fair-weather waterspout tornadoes.