The fun fear
Mini twister flings bouncy castle 30ft into the air as storm hits show
THIS is the dramatic moment a giant bouncy castle was sucked 30 feet into the air by a freak funnel of wind at a village show.
Two children who had been playing on the inflatable had a lucky escape, scrambling to safety moments before it was lifted from its moorings.
The flash storm, described by onlookers as a tornado, then swept across the showground in Friskney, Lincolnshire, battering the coconut shy stand, breaking windows and sending pieces of the marquee and other debris flying through the air as villagers ran for safety.
Astonishingly, nobody was injured during the storm, which lasted only a minute. But one visitor said she might have been crushed by the bouncy castle had she not got into her car a moment earlier.
Briony Lill said: ‘It was pelting rain and high wind. People were running. I instinctively felt I should get shelter and dashed into the car. A second later the bouncy castle fell on to it. I really thought, “This is it”.’
The pensioner added: ‘I was told by a police officer that had I been outside the car a second later, I would have been killed by the weight of it. A number of men had to drag it off the car on to the road.’
Village show chairman Trish Hunters said: ‘It was pandemonium. The bouncy castle was there – and then it wasn’t. It went across the road before coming down in the village hall car park.
‘The best thing is that nobody was on it at the time and nobody was hurt.’
Emergency services including the fire brigade and first aiders rushed to the scene of the storm, which the Met Office has since confirmed was a funnel cloud.
In March seven-year-old Summer Grant, of Norwich, died when a bouncy castle she was playing on was lifted into the air by a strong gust of wind and blown 500ft.
The incident was witnessed by her horrified family at a fairground in Harlow, Essex.