Tammy Perreault was on a Garden City beach when the umbrella broke from its anchor and hit her around 12:40 a.m. Wednesday, Horry County Chief Deputy Coroner Tamara Willard told reporters. Off-duty medical professionals and good Samaritans sprang into action and rendered aid to Perreault while they waited for an ambulance to arrive, officials said. However, the 63-year-old woman died about an hour later at Tidelands Waccamaw Community Hospital from chest trauma, according to WMBF. “This is a terrible loss and we know our community is hurting,” Thomas Bell, spokesman for Horry County Emergency Management, told the agency. “Our thoughts are with the victim’s family and friends as they go through this difficult time.” Scotty’s Surfside Bar posted a touching tribute to Perreault on its Facebook page. “Today it is with heavy hearts that we mourn the loss of a dear friend and kind-hearted local, Tammy Perreault,” the post said. “Some things we will never begin to understand, but what we do know is that no one has a bad word to say about this woman. To be as sweet as every day should be a goal for everyone.” Scotty’s beach bar remembered local Tammy Perreault, who was killed by a beach umbrella on Wednesday. Injuries and deaths from beach umbrellas that climb onto beaches after being caught in the wind are not uncommon. The sharp edge of umbrellas can become deadly once a gust of wind catches the device’s canopy and blows it away, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission said. The federal agency estimates that about 3,000 people are injured by beach umbrellas each year. In 2016, 55-year-old Lottie Michelle Belk was killed by a wind-blown beach umbrella in Virginia Beach, prompting US Senators Tim Kaine and Mark Warner to call on the agency to review beach umbrella safety rules. By postal cables
