The Tribune

PHOTOS and cell phone video of the shoreline in Long Island receding because of Hurricane Irma went viral on the weekend, with the phenomenon being reported by multiple international news outlets.

There were also reports that the water was sucked away from the shoreline in Exuma and Acklins as well during the passage of the monster storm.

Local meteorologist Wayne Neely explained that the phenomenon was not normal, but had occurred decades ago during hurricane season.

“Why (has) the water receded during Hurricane Irma on Long Island, Acklins, and Exuma?

“A hurricane is a low-pressure area and at the centre of the hurricane, you have a buildup or the piling up – a bulging effect – of water called the storm surge,” Mr Neely posted to Facebook yesterday.

“At the centre of the hurricane – in this case Hurricane Irma - the water builds up at 10 to 15 feet above the normal high tide. That water must come from somewhere else and for this case, it came from the outskirts or the outer boundaries of Hurricane Irma and which for us it came from the islands of Long Island, Exuma, and Acklins which were on the boundaries of Irma. Basically, there is a surplus of water at the centre of the storm and a deficit of water around the outer boundaries of the hurricane.”

Mr Neely said this has happened before, specifically during “hurricane #5” in 1936 on Acklins, when he said “persons went out and collected conch and fishes that were stranded on dry land when the water receded out of the harbour near The Bight.”

Mr Neely added: “In fact, in my book called ‘The Great Bahamas Hurricane of 1929,’ I interviewed the former Governor General of the Bahamas Arthur D Hanna, who recalled growing up as a child on the island of Acklins and experienced a hurricane in 1936, where early that morning the water receded out of the harbour in The Bight, leaving all the boats stranded on dry land for several hours and by midday it came rushing back in. Others recalled going out on the newly exposed dry land and collecting fishes and conch, which were left stranded.”

Twitter user @Kaydi_K posted the video on Saturday, saying: “I am in disbelief right now... This is Long Island, Bahamas and the ocean water is missing!!! That’s as far as they see #HurricaneIrma.”

The video showed people walking along a stretch of the receded shoreline, with conch shells exposed. It has been retweeted more than 130,000 times and viewed millions of times on Facebook.

The receded water has since returned to the affected shorelines.