A bounce house used for a birthday party in Hickory, North Carolina, on Saturday was lifted up and sent tumbling across a yard before it flew into the air and crashed down to the ground following a huge gust of wind, as seen in footage from a Ring surveillance camera shared to Facebook.
The bounce house is first seen standing upright before intense winds started to pick up. It then rolled across the yard, missing one child that jumped out of the bounce house's path.
For just a moment, the bounce house was lifted and suspended in the air, but it soon fell back to the ground. Adults immediately rushed outside to check if there were any children in the bounce house, which there were not.
Jennifer Beane shared the video clip to her Facebook page and explained one child saw the bounce house in the air from inside her house and notified adults.
"It could have been much, much worse," Beane wrote in her video caption. "Please if you get a bounce house be sure to watch out for how bad the winds will be."
Beane wrote to Newsweek that she has never run into any issues with bounce houses she and her family rented in the past.
When she saw what happened, the first thing she felt was fear.
"We had no clue our 5-year-old Michael was so close to being hit by it," she said. "When we watched the video it just made me sick to my stomach even more."
ABC affiliate station WSCO reported that the company that installed the bounce house used four stakes to secure it in the ground. If winds blew more than 10 mph, the company advised the family that they should not use the bounce house.
This advice was echoed by Backyard Sidekick, which also encouraged those renting a bounce house to secure it.
"If you don't secure the bounce house properly, the bounce house can easily be picked up by the wind, or at the very least blown over," the organization stated. "With anyone inside, the risk of injury is high in these cases."
The piece written by the organization stated that it is better to be safe and not use a bounce house if there's a chance for intense winds in the forecast.
"Even with proper securing, the bounce house can basically act as a sail, trapping all that wind will lift the bounce house enough to pull most stakes right out of the ground," the piece read.
Although there were intense winds when the bounce house was lifted, the outlet reported that the winds were not as strong that morning.
Beane said the weather was nice, though it was "breezy."
She said she shared the video to bring awareness that something like this can happen.
"We never thought it would but thank goodness all our kids are safe," she said.
Major winds affected another bounce house, which resulted in the deaths of 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 p.m. ET: This story has been updated with comments from Jennifer Beane and a verified video of the incident.
About the writer
Catherine Ferris is a Newsweek reporter based in New York. Her focus is reporting for the U.S. Trends Team. She ... Read more