Video, Radar: Thunderstorm Downburst Clears Deck

My buddy Corey, who used to sit next to me at AccuWeather, opted for a job at the South Carolina shore a few years ago. Last Thursday, he found that he couldn't get away from the weather entirely when a severe thunderstorm "cleared the deck" of his resort. Here's the security tape:

Watching all the videos simultaneously is fascinating (here's a link to the original footage, four-screen at 2K resolution). Furniture goes flying by at high speed, including a slushy cart. This event was likely the work of a thunderstorm downburst (notice, in addition to the extreme wind, the chairs and tables create "waves" from the heavy rain as well). I'm waiting on getting 3D radar data from the government archive, but meanwhile here's a quick radar loop showing the storm moving in:

Corey's resort was just in the wrong place at the wrong time... the winds might not have been as high as they look -- remember most of this was plastic furniture (even the slushee cart probably had wheels). No spotter reports or National Weather Service warnings were associated with this storm. The Myrtle Beach airport, which is close by, registered only a 26-mph gust, though the likely microburst was probably over a very small area.