NEW YORK — What happens when a tornado whips up hundreds of sharks and hurls them at Los Angeles?

Syfy network's "Sharknado" suggests that such a siege can take a big chomp out of social media.

Aired Thursday night, the disaster thriller was a trending topic on Twitter as it inspired amazed, often jeering messages to reflect viewer amusement at the film's jaw-dropping premise.

One tweeter expressed satisfaction that here was a natural disaster that finally makes Aquaman useful. Another jokingly questioned the film's scientific authenticity. Another described the sharknado as "an act of cod."

"Sharknado" was the night's most social program, generating nearly 5,000 tweets per minute at its peak. The network says it scored 387,000 social media mentions during its premiere.

Syfy says "Sharknado" was seen by nearly 1.37 million viewers.