Severe thunderstorms in north Alabama on Saturday disrupted a rally in the town of Hillsboro, catching attendees by surprise and forcing them to evacuate.
The thunderstorm hit at around 1pm local time, bringing heavy rain, thunderstorms and damaging wind gusts.
One attendee, Joshua Cofield, said he didn’t expect to see such a powerful thunderstorm.
“It was a little green speck. [on radar]”Then within three minutes the wind picked up and that’s what happened,” Cofield said, referring to his video.
Cellphone video showed families running for cover and a large bounce house flying into the air from right to left of the gathering spot.
No one appeared to be on the inflatable as it somersaulted between collapsing tents and food trucks.
Coffield said some attendees suffered scrapes after a tent collapsed on them, but everyone managed to get out of the mess.
Local officials reported no major injuries following the storm, which caused damaged trees and downed power lines in nearby areas.
According to the Storm Prediction Center, the thunderstorms developed along the forward boundary of the cold front.
Forecasters issued severe thunderstorm watches for parts of Alabama, Georgia, South Carolina and North Carolina later in the afternoon.
The thunderstorms could produce wind gusts of up to 70 mph and hail at least the size of a ping pong ball.
The bounce house is at least the second inflatable to be launched into the air by wind gusts over the past few weeks.
Earlier this month, a 5-year-old boy was killed and at least one other child was seriously injured when an inflatable bounce house came off its stake during a Southern Maryland Blue Crabs baseball game.
County officials reported that wind gusts lifted bounce houses 15 to 20 feet into the air, causing children to fall out.
A study by experts from the University of Georgia found that since 2000, about 500 people have been injured and 28 killed in jump house-related accidents.
But the researchers warned that these figures were likely undercounted due to poor record-keeping.
