Video of IRMA pulling water out of Tampa Bay
 

Check out this video on YouTube:

Hurricane Irma takes water from Tampa Bay many hours before direct impact - YouTube


Long before impact of the storm.

That's pretty neat.

Wow.

Wow, weird looking !

When the water comes back into the bay, that's the surge they fear. I hope everyone gets to higher ground.

I don't know if this is usual or unusual for a hurricane, but if I saw that I would be "beating feet" to get as far from the coast as fast as I could. Tsunamis (which are normally triggered by seismic events) can have the same effect. I remember studying tsunamis in a marine science course in college, and there was an event (in the far east I think) where the water drew away from the shore near a fishing village. Many people from the village and nearby villages rushed down to see what happened and to collect fish that were flopping around on the newly exposed sea bed. Basically, the tsunami drew out the tide and the resulting "wave" that surged forward killed most of the people who were caught unawares.