A waterspout turned into a tornado at a beach off the southwest Florida coast on Saturday, sending many beachgoers running for cover and leading to minor property damage.

       The weather quickly became severe in the afternoon at Fort Myers beach and several people who witnessed the tornado captured video showing it hurtling towards them.

       Visuals showed dark clouds looming over the sky, while chairs and tents were blown away by strong winds as beachgoers ran for shelter.

       The National Weather Service confirmed the waterspout had moved onshore as a weak tornado on Saturday at the Fort Myers beach and that they were looking into the sudden weather change.

       The agency said the tornado had peak winds of around 65mph.

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       “Essentially, because a waterspout is basically a tornado over water, that means that the waterspout ended up being a tornado as it moved onshore,” Ross Giarratana, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Tampa, said.

       No injuries were reported following the sudden change in weather.

       Minor property damage, however, reportedly occurred at the Lani Kai Island Resort, a nearby business at the beach.

       Audrey and Dale Groombridge, who have visited Fort Myers for the past 45 years for vacations, said they had come this time for a shrimp festival at the beach, but the festivities were dampened by the weather, CBS affiliate WINK-TV reported.

       Cheryl Sackaris, a vendor at the shrimp festival, told the station that it was one of the scariest days for her.

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       “You can see our tent is shaking like crazy right now, but, um, you know, I’m used to it to a point because I’ve been doing shows for about 24 years,” said Ms Sackaris.

       “Today, I think, was a little bit of the scariest. Because it came all of a sudden, like what’s going on, there’s a water spout, here we go, where’s it going?” she added.