WATCH: Where’s the ocean? Video shows how sea ‘disappeared’ after Hurricane Irma

Startling footage has shown how the powerful Hurricane Irma sucked the sea away from beaches in the Bahamas that were hit by the storm earlier this week.

Twitter users shared pictures and videos of the phenomenon.

“Y’all my family in the Bahamas said Irma sucked up all the water. There’s literally no water. The beach and ocean are gone,” Twitter user @Piznack wrote.

The Washington Post’s deputy weather editor Angela Fritz explained the phenomenon.

“Basically, Hurricane Irma is so strong and its pressure is so low, it’s sucking water from its surroundings into the core of the storm,” Fritz wrote.

“In the center of the storm, where there is extreme low pressure, water is drawn upward. Low pressure is basically a sucking mechanism — it sucks the air into it, and when it’s really low, it can change the shape of the surface of the ocean. As the storm draws water toward the center, it gets pulled away from the surroundings.”

People who had seen the water recede in the Bahamas on Friday said the water returned the next day.

Earlier this week, Irma ripped through the Caribbean Sea and parts of the Atlantic Ocean. It has so far claimed the lives of at least 22 people and left thousands of people displaced.