A 20-year-old man died and at least 14 people were injured on Sunday in a lightning strike during a rare thunderstorm at Venice Beach in Los Angeles, officials said, according to The Associated Press.
The bolt of electricity made a loud crack that sounded like an explosion on a warm and overcast afternoon, witnesses said, the AP reported. The man was taken to Marina Del Rey Hospital was later pronounced dead, according to the Los Angeles county coroner's department, the AP reported.
The cause of death was still being determined, a spokesman said, according to the AP. One other person was in critical condition, Main said, adding that a 15-year-old was among the victims,
"I heard this crackle and there was this giant bolt of lightning shooting across the sky and the loudest thunder I've ever heard," witness Joe Doro told KCAL-TV, according to the AP.
Victims were apparently in the water or very close to it when the lightning struck, local officials told the broadcaster, the AP reported.
The eight survivors were hospitalized for treatment and observation after the lightning hit near Ocean Front Walk facing the Pacific Ocean, around 2:15 p.m., said Los Angeles Fire Department spokeswoman Katherine Main, according to the AP.
On rocky Catalina Island off the coast of nearby Long Beach, a 57-year-old man was injured after a lightning strike, the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department said, the AP reported.
The National Weather Service had predicted a chance of thunderstorms around Southern California on Sunday, and lightning was also being blamed for a power outage affecting about 300 customers in Redondo Beach, some 12 miles south of Venice, according to the AP.
Lightning injuries or fatalities can occur during a direct strike or after a current is passed through the ground or jumps from a taller object, such as a tree, according to the National Weather Service, the AP reported.
Symptoms can range from cardiac arrest and injury to the nervous system to muscle soreness, headache, and confusion, according to the AP.
