This is the terrifying moment a dust devil ripped through a garage while residents looked on in fear.

The smoke-like gusts from the violent whirlwind were seen by a man whose home was only a few metres away from where it has formed in Kaohsiung, Taiwan on November 18.

Onlooker Wang Tailang said he thought something was burning in the lorry park next-door to his home because it looked like smoke but he then realised it was a mini-tornado.

He said: "I was amazed by what I saw. I wanted to know how it was going to disappear because I was curious. Fortunately, it didn't come to my house."

The dust devil slowly lost its force and dissipated after almost ten minutes and did not damage anything on its path.

Dust devils are rotating masses of air which are relatively short-lived whirlwinds. They are usually harmless, but occasionally can cause some damage to both people and property.

They are formed when the hot sun heats the ground and the warmer air above it starts to rise, creating an area of low pressure below.

Cooler air rushes to fill the low pressure, which then heats up, circulates like a whirlwind and picks up dried dirt from the surface as the air while it warms and rises quickly. They dissipate when all the air becomes cooler and the pressure equalises.