Woman, 63, is impaled by a BEACH UMBRELLA in South Carolina after strong wind lifted pole out of sand and drove it into her chest
- The umbrella was blown from its anchoring by the wind around 12:40 p.m. and hit Tammy Perreault while she was at a Garden City beach
- Perreault, 63, died about an hour later at the hospital from chest trauma, Willard said
- Scotty’s Beach Bar, a local hangout where Perrault was a regular, posted a remembrance on Facebook
- ‘Some things we will never begin to understand but what we do know is no one has a bad thing to say about this woman,’ they wrote
A beachgoer was killed Wednesday after a loose beach umbrella impaled her in the chest, authorities said.
The umbrella was blown from its anchoring by the wind around 12:40 p.m. and hit Tammy Perreault while she was at a Garden City beach, Horry County Chief Deputy Coroner Tamara Willard told news outlets.
Perreault, 63, died about an hour later at the hospital from chest trauma, Willard said.
Scotty’s Beach Bar, a local hangout where Perrault was a regular, posted a remembrance on Facebook.
‘Today with heavy hearts we mourn the loss of a dear friend and kind hearted local, Tammy Perreault. Some things we will never begin to understand but what we do know is no one has a bad thing to say about this woman. To be as sweet as her day in and day out should be a goal for all’.
A beachgoer, Tammy Perrault (pictured right) was killed Wednesday after a loose beach umbrella impaled her in the chest, authorities said
The umbrella was blown from its anchoring by the wind around 12:40 p.m. and hit Perreault while she was at a Garden City beach, Horry County Chief Deputy Coroner Tamara Willard told news outlets
The beach at Garden City, South Carolina, on a busy day in 2019
A wind gust in Garden City, South Carolina (pictured) moved a beach umbrella out of the sand, impaling a local who was enjoying the day
They asked that everyone keep Tammy and her husband Mike in their prayers, adding: ‘Mike, we love you and are immensely sorry for your loss’.
Beach umbrellas have a spiked end to help push them into the sand and their wide canopy allows them to get caught up in a strong wind if they are not anchored properly, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission said.
The federal agency estimates about 3,000 people are injured by beach umbrellas every year.
Senators Tim Kaine and Mark Warner of Virginia asked the safety agency to review safety rules for beach umbrellas and start a safety campaign after a Virginia woman was killed by an umbrella in 2016.
The majority of people injured by beach and patio umbrellas are women over 40, according to the Journal of Safety Research.
They wrote: ‘The most frequently reported injury was laceration followed by contusions or abrasions and internal organ injury, and the body part with the highest proportion of injuries was the head/neck followed by the upper extremity,’ the study said.
Scotty’s Beach Bar, a local hangout where Perrault was a regular, said ‘no one has a bad thing to say about this woman. To be as sweet as her day in and day out should be a goal for all.’ Perrault pictured on a local beach
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