People watched in amazement as a whirlwind the height of several buildings struck the Sussex coast.

The freak weather pattern, which could be seen for miles, formed at sea off Ovingdean, near Brighton, at about 7.15am on Saturday.

It twisted down into the sea, sucking up a massive spray of water, and moved towards the shore before dying out.

Brighton seafront officer Vicki Miller said: "It got really large, - several hundred metres tall - before dispersing."

Stewart Williams, of Foundry Street, Brighton, spotted the whirlwind from the window of his bedroom.

He said: "There was this huge funnel coming down from a black sky into the sea. It looked like a large letter C coming down from the sky."

Geoff Rawlings was fishing on Saltdean beach when the twister struck.

He said: "It came over really dark and there was thunder and lightning and then this tornado hit the water.

"I could see it boiling up the water and there was spray coming up around the sides. It was unbelievable.

"It was there about ten minutes and started heading for shore."

This was the second such storm to hit Sussex in a month.

On September 1 a whirlwind swept along the coast from Rottingdean to Peacehaven, damaging roofs, sucking out a car window and destroying a greenhouse.