This is the dramatic moment a violent tornado ripped through houses injuring eight people in Indonesia.

Video shows the powerful winds tearing up through residential areas, sending debris flying into the air amid a downpour in Bondowoso Regency, East Java, on January 18.

Local officials said at least eight people were injured while 60 houses in the villages of Walidono and Cangkring were damaged in the tornado's onslaught.

Dadan Kurniawan, Head of the Bondowoso Regional Disaster Management Agency, said: 'The incident occurred in the afternoon. We have assigned a number of personnel to help clean up the rubble of damaged buildings.'

A tornado is a violent rotating column of air that connects the earth and a storm cloud. According to the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the rise of warm, humid air and the fall of cooler air inside a thunderstorm create spinning currents that condense into a visible whirling funnel.

Tornadoes spawned from supercell thunderstorms are the most common, and often the most damaging.