Freak Lightning Storm Along California Coast, 14 People Struck, One Dead
In what’s described as a freak lightning storm, one man was killed and 13 others were injured in California on Sunday. When the lightning hit Venice Beach at about 2:20 p.m., it sounded like “just one big explosion,” Ruben Tumbaga, 36, told the Daily News.
Eight people were taken to the hospital with two in grave and critical condition.
A body boarder floated in the water. One witness described him as conscious and breathing, but said, “He was pretty much just dead weight being carried out of the water.”
Medics treated four other victims at the beach and they and released.
The Daily News reports:
A storm of such caliber has rarely been seen along the California coast. It was sparked by monsoon moisture and was described as very loud and bright by witnesses — and sent people scattering from the beach as lightning hit several people.
The strike threw Melinda Love Steele, 34, to the ground at the water’s edge.
“I thought we were getting hit by bombs or something,” Steele told the Daily News.In a panic, Steele managed to get up and run to her friends, asking if she was okay. However, she turned around only to see the surfer in critical condition lying on the ground barely ten feet away from where she had been standing.
“I really thought I was the one that got hit,” Steele said. “My friends felt it, too.”
The storm managed to strike down another man, 57, at a golf course on Catalina Island off the coast, but he is in stable condition.
Audio released courtesy of KTLA:
Images: Daily News
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2 responses to Freak Lightning Storm Along California Coast, 14 People Struck, One Dead
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ChrisVosburg July 29th, 2014 at 10:07
Greetings from Hollywood, and boy, we did not see that coming. Sometimes we forget, especially in July, that water falls from the sky sometimes.
For my own part, I was at home, watching the latest netflix delivery (Skyfall, which I quite enjoyed), and when I heard the sound of water hitting the ground outside, my first thought was, jesus, which one of my stupid ass neighbors is asshole enough to water the lawn at midday in the middle of a drought, until I drew back the blinds to reveal soaked pedestrians running for cover, hahahahahaha.
ChrisVosburg July 29th, 2014 at 10:07
Greetings from Hollywood, and boy, we did not see that coming. Sometimes we forget, especially in July, that water falls from the sky sometimes.
For my own part, I was at home, watching the latest netflix delivery (Skyfall, which I quite enjoyed), and when I heard the sound of water hitting the ground outside, my first thought was, jesus, which one of my stupid ass neighbors is asshole enough to water the lawn at midday in the middle of a drought, until I drew back the blinds to reveal soaked pedestrians running for cover, hahahahahaha.