Terrifying video shows full force of Japanese tsunami destroying everything in its path

The explosive power of the tsunami that hit Japan on Friday was captured in this dramatic amateur video footage.

It shows ships being washed onto a highway as the huge surge of water breaches a sea wall in Miyako City, north east Japan. Cars and buildings are also effortlessly swept away as the tsunami turns the streets into a torrent of debris-strewn water in seconds.

Cars can still be seen driving over a motorway overpass as the highway below is engulfed by the tsunami. Several ships are carried up the bay, over the sea wall and crash into the pillar of the motorway overpass.

As the torrent continues, buildings are swept along what were city centre streets just minutes earlier. Piles of cars are also washed against buildings, as the water brings down power lines.

Miyako City - atown of about 60,000 people, was 178 miles from the epicentre of the quake that caused that tsunami, and not as badly affected as Minami Sankiru, where everything in sight has been flattened.

The video was shot from the balcony of a high-rise building - where a number of residents took photos as their town was destroyed below.