A bounce house being used for a birthday party in Hickory, North Carolina, was lifted and sent tumbling across a yard on Saturday before flying into the air and crashing to the ground after a large gust of wind, as seen in the images of a surveillance camera ring shared on Facebook.
The bounce house is first seen upright before the strong winds begin to rise. He then rolled across the yard, missing a boy who jumped out of the way of the bounce house.
For just a moment, the bounce house rose and suspended in the air, but soon fell back to the ground. The adults immediately went outside to check for children in the bounce house, which there were not.
Jennifer Beane shared the video clip on her Facebook page and explained that a child saw the bounce house in the air from inside his home and notified the adults.
“It could have been much, much worse,” Beane wrote in the caption of his video. “Please, if you have a bounce house, make sure you watch how strong the wind is going to be.”
Beane wrote in Newsweek that she has never had a problem with the bounce houses she and her family have rented in the past.
When he saw what happened, the first thing he felt was fear.
“We had no idea our 5-year-old Michael was so close to being hit by this,” she said. “When we saw the video it made my stomach hurt even more.”
ABC affiliate station WSCO reported that the company that installed the bounce house used four stakes to secure it to the floor. If winds were blowing more than 10 mph, the company advised the family they should not use the bounce house.
This advice was echoed by Backyard Sidekick, who also encouraged those renting a bounce house to insure it.
“If the bounce house is not properly secured, the bounce house can easily be caught in the wind, or at least not blown away,” the organization said. “With anyone inside, the risk of injury is high in these cases.”
The article written by the organization stated that it is best to play it safe and not use a bounce house if there is a chance of high winds in the forecast.
“Even with proper security, the bounce house can basically act like a sail, catching all that wind will lift the bounce house enough to lift most of the stakes off the ground,” the piece said.
A woman shared footage from her surveillance camera showing the moment a bounce house rolled across her yard and was lifted into the air by high winds. Here, a stock image of a bounce house.
FootToo/iStock
Although there were high winds when the bounce house was erected, the outlet reported that the winds were not that strong that morning.
Beane said the weather was nice, although it was “windy”.
He said he shared the video to raise awareness that something like this can happen.
“We never thought it would, but thank God all our children are safe,” she said.
Strong winds hit another bounce house, killing four children.
Newsweek previously reported that a bounce house in Australia was blown into the air and students fell about 30 feet. The unexpected tragedy also resulted in the injuries of five children.
Updated 03/22/2022, 6:08 PM ET: This story has been updated with comments from Jennifer Beane and a verified video of the incident.
