CHARLESTON, S.C. — Wind and power outages are largely all Columbia and surrounding areas have to show for strong weather that blew through early Saturday morning.
But a South Carolina police officer had a reminder during the day that these winds can be dangerous enough in themselves.
A photo shared by the Charleston Police Department tells a story in itself that would make anyone's heart skip a beat. The entire passenger's side of one of their patrol vehicles appears to have been crushed. The description explains exactly how it happened.
"Winds caused the container of a truck to fly off, land on a CPD cruiser, and then slide off into the Wando River," the department said.
Fortunately, in this case, the officer wasn't injured and the driver of the truck was OK as well. But the same winds that flipped the container onto the patrol car also led to tractor-trailers and containers toppling elsewhere.
The Don Holt and Wando bridges in the Charleston area had to be temporarily closed as a result of the dangerous winds but were cautiously reopened just before noon even as a high wind advisory remained in effect.
