Children injured when waterspout topples bounce house in Fort Lauderdale

Waterspout overturns bounce house on Fort Lauderdale Beach

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – Three children were injured after a waterspout overturned a bounce house in Fort Lauderdale.

It happened about 12:30 p.m. on Memorial Day near the Bahia Mar hotel on Fort Lauderdale Beach.

Fort Lauderdale police Sgt. DeAnna Greenlaw said three children were injured when they were ejected from the bounce house. Two were treated for minor fractures and released from Broward Health Medical Center, while a third was being held overnight for observation.

Brandon Burchett posted on his Facebook page cellphone video of the waterspout lifting the bounce house into the air. It shows the bounce house being carried several feet.

A witness told Local 10 News she was on the beach when she saw the bounce house in the air and "little kids start flying out, hitting the ground."

Another witness said she saw the bounce house get as high as the palm trees.

"Next thing you know you see kids flying out of the bounce house," she said.

The waterspout also broke a concrete pole and knocked down light poles.

"When it hit the beach, it took out everything in its path," witness Reggie Murphy said.

Police inspect a deflated bounce house after it was lifted into the air by a water spout on the beach in Fort Lauderdale.

Greenlaw said the waterspout lifted the bounce house into the air and across State Road A1A.

She said the bounce house was provided as part of a city event and was properly secured.

"This is an act of Mother Nature, something that could not be prevented, and we were unable to react quick enough to this waterspout," Greenlaw said.

A second bounce house was also carried away by the waterspout, but it was unoccupied, Greenlaw said.

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