By Stephen M. Lepore For Dailymail.Com and Associated Press

Published: 12:27 EDT, 11 August 2022 | Updated: 08:16 EDT, 12 August 2022

A beachgoer has died after she was impaled by a loose beach umbrella in front of her horrified friends during high winds in South Carolina. 

In a freak accident, strong winds lifted the umbrella out of the sand at Garden City beach on Wednesday at 12.40pm and drove it into Tammy Perreault's chest, said Horry County Chief Deputy Coroner Tamara Willard.

Perreault's friends said they saw the umbrella being carried by the wind and they screamed at the 63-year-old to 'duck' - but it was too late.

Sherry White, who was one of Perreault's best friends, saw the umbrella's pole strike Perreault's chest. 

'A gust of wind that came through took an umbrella through the air and it just kept on going and going,' White told WMBF News. 

'Everyone says 'Duck,' and we did, but unfortunately she was in the line of fire.' 

Perreault died about an hour later at the Waccamaw ER hospital from chest trauma.

White said Perrault and her husband Mike were 'inseparable' as she described her friend as 'the most loving and kind person I think I have ever met'.   

A beachgoer, Tammy Perrault (pictured right with her husband Mike) 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. Sherry White, who was one of Perreault's best friends, saw the umbrella's pole strike Perreault's chest (pictured together) 

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

'She was the most loving and kind person I think I ever met. She never had a bad word to say about anybody,' White said. 

'She always put others first and her husband and her were inseparable. If you saw Mike, you saw Tammy. They had a great passion and love for each other.'

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'. 

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'. 

White said Perrault and her husband Mike (pictured together) were 'inseparable' as she described her friend as 'the most loving and kind person I think I have ever met'

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

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.

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