Waterspout Throws Moonbounce 50 Feet In The Air With Kids Inside

USA – A Memorial Day attraction at Fort Lauderdale Beach Park in Florida went terribly wrong when a sudden waterspout uprooted and overturned an inflatable bounce house, injuring children inside, before lifting it some 50 feet (15 meters) up in the air.

The video of the accident posted on YouTube shows the inflatable house flying above palm trees, across a parking lot and over four lanes of traffic.

“There was no indication a waterspout was forming,” said Fort Lauderdale Police Sargent DeAnna Greenlaw. “It was fast and furious.” The Children were ejected before the inflatable structure flew above palm trees police said.

Still three of the children who were inside the bounce house during the early afternoon incident were injured and had to be taken to Broward Health Medical Center. All of the kids were under the age of eight, according to Greenlaw. One of them will be held overnight. The other two suffered fractures and minor injuries, but have already been released after receiving medical treatment.

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First of all thank god no kids were injured worse than some minor injuries and fractures because that shit was scary as hell. Probably the most tragic thing here then is the fact that Moonbounces just got ruined for them forever? I mean Moonbounces are supposed to be one of the top 3 highlights of everyone’s childhood. Hell, not even sure if they stop at childhood…I’m 28 years old and I’ll still try to sneak into one if possible, if there’s no pesky parents around, “enforcing the 8 year old/80 pound weight limit” rules and all that bullshit. Just right up there with the Ice Cream Man as things that made you impossibly happy when you were a kid, and now these poor ones are always going to associate it with the most traumatic event of their young lives. Sucks so bad.

Also something I learned, waterspouts are basically just as badass as tornados except you get no warning for them.

A waterspout is an intense columnar vortex that occurs over a body of water and looks like a tornado. But unlike tornadoes, waterspouts don’t need thunderstorms to form. At the time of the accident, a band of clouds had developed over the ocean creating winds favorable for waterspout formation.