Lightning — both beautiful and dangerous. (Via Adam Sherer / CC BY NC ND 2.0)
A point Mother Nature proved yet again Sunday afternoon at Venice Beach near Los Angeles after a lightning strike killed a man and injured others.
Several swimmers were around or in the ocean when the lightning struck. KNBC spoke with one survivor who says his friends saved him.
"Thank God they were brave enough to just jump in and not hesitate."
"When he was brought to shore, there was chaos on the beach."
"About 100 feet down, there was an individual they were performing CPR on."
One younger person didn't make it. Officials hadn't released his identity as of early Monday morning.
The age of the man and the number of injured varies by report. Some label the struck man as a 20-year-old, others say "mid-twenties." Outlets also vary on the number of injured, saying at least eight while others marked it around a dozen. (Via Los Angeles Times, CNN, KABC)
A reporter for KABC called it a "freak storm."
Something TheWeather Channel agreed with, headlining "Rare July Thunderstorms."
This would be the first lightning strike death in California this year, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which updated its chart Monday saying the young man was 20. The most lightning strike deaths so far in 2014 occurred in Florida.
