JACKSONVILLE, Fla.-- Witnesses say it came out of nowhere.
"I heard the sudden roar and looked out my window and I could see a tornado across the river," Linda Bowens said.
Bowens was hunkering down in her boat when the high winds hit this afternoon. The bug screen on the vessel was shattered by flying debris, but other than that, she fared well.
"It looked like it started on land, then tried to go to the water and didn't quite make it," she continued.
James Allen is the night manager at Fisherman's Marina. He believes they witnessed a water spout.
"Come out and look out the windows and the big thundercloud, the whole thing was circling. Then the water spit dropped, probably about a thousand feet from the end of the boat," he said.
At least a half-dozen vessels sustained damage. Canvases ripped off, and pieces of equipment blew into the Trout River and up in front of the marina office.
Water spout, high winds. Whatever it was, it shook Bowens to the core.
"I didn't have time to be scared during it, but afterward, extremely," she said.
No one at the marina was injured. Managers estimate between $5,000 and $6,000 worth of damage.
