GREENVILLE CO., SC (WCMH) – At least five children were injured at a church festival Saturday when two inflatable bounce houses went flying into the air.
Just after 2pm, Mother Nature turned things upside down for festival goers at a small church in Taylors, South Carolina.
“Everybody was just enjoying themselves, [it was a] calm day,” said a witness who asked not to be identified. “No wind blowing and all of the sudden, it just showed up.”
The bounce houses were anchored down with stakes and straps. Taylors Fire Department Battalion Chief Rickey Reed confirmed that the takes in the ground initially secured the inflatables, but it wasn’t enough for the gust of wind that came through.
“When the second bouncy house went up, I had though my kids was on it. This guy and I dove onto it and held on,” the witness told WHNS. “It just took us up and took us into the powerline and broke all the powerlines.”
A bystander caught that moment on video.
Reed said that two children were seriously injured in the incident, with three more sustaining minor injuries. He said the situation could’ve been much worse.
“These [powerlines] fortunately were dead when they hit the ground or we would have had or could have had fatalities,” Reed said. “There’s no telling what would’ve happened.”