Lifeguards advise umbrellas should be taken down if winds get too strong or when taking a walk or going for a swim. At least half a meter of the rod needs to be beneath the beach sand.
Sunbather impaled by beach umbrella on Jersey Shore
The umbrella rod went through the ankle of a 67-year-old woman lying on the beach at Jersey Shore, New Jersey.
AFP
Margaret Reynolds, 67, a tourist visiting from London, was impaled by the rod of an umbrella at Jersey Shore, New Jersey this week after it was uprooted and swept along the beach by a strong wind.
The rod of the umbrella went through her ankle and had to be cut on the beach so she could be taken to hospital.
She was treated at the Jersey Shore Medical University Hospital but has since been discharged.
In a statement afterwards Reynolds said: “It was just an accident.”
However, umbrellas lifted by winds on beaches can be deadly. In 2016, a woman died after being stabbed in the chest by an uprooted umbrella on Virginia Beach, Virginia.
Lottie Michelle Belk was celebrating her 55th birthday with a day by the sea when the tragedy happened.
For more news your way
Download our app and read this and other great stories on the move. Available for Android and iOS.
