waterspout
© Michael FuhrmannHere it comes! A waterspout approaches the home of Michael Fuhrmann in northern Germany
A homeowner has captured the dramatic moment a waterspout swept through his garden in northern Germany.

The awe-inspiring but slightly frightening event occurred on a small lake in Eckwarderhorne.


The close-up footage was captured by Michael Fuhrmann, who risked injury to film the amazing force of nature.

In the one-minute video, the waterspout moves across the lake and then, like a hurricane making landfall, begins to bend small trees and whip around debris.

The camera's microphone records the extreme force of the wind.

At one point, Mr Fuhrmann steps outside to rescue a chair that almost gets blown away, while a wheelie bin is knocked over on the other side of the garden.

A waterspout is a rotating column of water and spray that forms when a whirlwind occurs over the sea or another body of water.