The point with this one was it was really a tornado from the get go - it formed from a small but very intense intense thunderstorm cell which just happened to be over the ocean. On the radar the centre was brown/black. I understand that normally waterspouts peter out if they make landfall. Based on the Fujita scale of damage and wind speed it was an F2.
F2 wind speed:181–253 kph
(LH event est wind speed 200kph); damage path width (m)110 - 250
(the LH event does not fit here, the reports said 50m width); Considerable damage.
Roofs torn off frame houses; mobile homes demolished; boxcars overturned; large trees snapped or uprooted; highrise windows broken and blown in; light-object missiles generated.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fujita_scale