Swimmer, 20, killed and seven hospitalized after being struck by lightning on Venice Beach during freak thunderstorm

• Some 13 people hit on the Venice Beach boardwalk about 2.20pm Sunday
• A 20-year-old man, who has not yet been named has died from his injuries
• He was among nine taken to hospital, with one in a critical condition
• People fled from the water after the lightning struck on Sunday afternoon 
  
• Another man, 57, was also hit on a golf course on Santa Catalina Island
• Unusual storms came from monsoon moisture, officials said

A 20-year-old man who was among 14 people struck by lightning on Sunday has died in hospital after rare summer thunderstorms swept through Southern California.

Nine other people were hospitalized - including a 15-year-old and one in a critical condition - after the lightning hit Venice Beach in Los Angeles about 2.50pm.

The incident occurred in the 3500 block of South Ocean Front Walk, which is the famed Venice Fishing Pier.

Those enjoying a Sunday afternoon on the beach said they saw the bright flash of the lightning before people started fleeing the water, in what one witness described as like a scene from the film Jaws. 

Help: Thirteen people were injured Sunday after a rare lightning strike at California's Venice Beach. Here emergency workers rush to help a man believed to have been struck

CPR: Lifeguards prepare to move a victim of a lightning strike in Venice, California July 27, 2014. The strike has claimed the life of one, injuring at least eight others, one severely, according to reports

Lifeguards bring ashore a victim of a lightning strike in Venice, California July 27, 2014. The strike has claimed the life of one, injuring at least eight others

Lifeguards bring ashore the victim of a lightning strike in Venice, California July 27, 2014. The strike has claimed the life of one, injuring at least eight others, one severely, according to local media

While others were treated at scene and released, a swimmer who went missing in the water, sparking a major search by lifegaurds, was among those hospitalized, Los Angeles fire spokeswoman Katherine Main said.

Photos of the scene show lifeguards desperately giving CPR to a young man, who they pulled from the water.

Witnesses said the victim did not appear to respond to the CPR.

'The guy wasn't moving. He wasn't responding at all,' Jesus Zamudio of Riverside told The Los Angeles Times. 

'It was sad to see, the guy looked young.'

A man is treated by paramedics while a woman is comforted after a lightning strike in Venice, California July 27, 2014

Lifeguards assist a person who was in the water and apparently struck by lightning on Sunday July 27, 2014 in Los Angeles

STRIKES ARE RARE SAY EXPERTS 

Experts have said that the hundreds of lightning strikes that hit Southern California are rare but there is still a chance of storms today. 

The storms were caused as a moisture-laden monsoonal flow spread up from the south and swept across the region, all of the way out to the ocean. 

Stuart Seto, a weather specialist with the National Weather Service explained: 'This is pretty rare because usually the flow affects just the deserts and sometimes the mountains. 

'The storms began to dissipate as they moved north-west leaving just a chance of storms through Monday, mainly on the deserts and mountains.' 

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.

Symptoms can range from cardiac arrest and injury to the nervous system to muscle soreness, headache, and confusion. 

Steve Christensen added that his friend had been body-surfing and was sitting on the beach when lifeguards began searching for a missing swimmer.

'He (Christensen's friend) went out to the water to find him and walked right into him,' Mr Christensen said. 'He was face down on the bottom.'

Mr Christensen added his friend pulled the man, who appeared to be in his 20s, from the water, and lifeguards began CPR before taking him away on a truck.

The identity of the 20-year-old that was killed has not been released.  

Confirmation of the cause of death was pending an autopsy. Los Angeles County Coroner's Lt. Larry Dietz said he also can't confirm whether the man was a swimmer who was pulled from the water and given CPR. 

It is thought the man in a critical condition is a 55-year-old who had been surfing.

Other witnesses told the publication the storm 'came out of nowhere'.

Joe Doro also told NBC Los Angeles: 'It was the loudest thunder I've ever heard. 

'It was like a scene out of Jaws, all the mothers were going in to grab their kids and drag them out of the water.

While Stuart Acher said he was struck by lightning while playing volleyball on the beach.

'We went about our game and then all of a sudden, there was a big flash of light and a boom, and it felt like someone punched me in the back of my head,' he told KABC-TV. 

'It went down my whole side of my right body, and my calves sort of locked up, and I fell over. And I looked up and everybody else was, you know, falling over.'

Paramedics examined Acher but he felt all right and went back to playing volleyball.

'The majority of the folks that were on the (volleyball) court all felt a little tingly,' said another player, Jerome Williams. 'Everyone hit the court. It sounded like a sonic boom.'

 

Views from the search and rescue operation after the storm

Pedestrians and beachgoers stand on the shore near Venice Beach as lifeguards, right, bring in a swimmer rescued from the water after a lightening strike Sunday July 27, 2014 in Venice Beach

A lifeguard carries a rescue board on the beach after a lightning strike injured people in the water in Venice, California July 27, 2014

Lifeguards search the waters for injured victims after a lightning strike injured people in the water in Venice, California July 27, 2014

On Santa Catalina Island, often called Catalina Island, off the coast, a 57-year-old man was struck by lightning on a golf course and was hospitalized in stable condition, said Steve Denning, a law enforcement technician with the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department.

The man was believed to be the 14th person hit in the storm. 

Denning did not have other details.

The lightning strikes occurred as a thunderstorm hit the island, causing minor flooding and setting two small fires in the brushy backcountry that were quickly doused, Denning said.

The unusual weather came from monsoon moisture that brought a line of brief but fierce afternoon thunderstorms to the region. 

One man has died from a lightning strike in Venice Beach

Evacuation: People move off the Venice Beach Boardwalk following lightning strikes on Sunday

The National Weather Service urged residents in Venice and surrounding areas to stay indoors if they hear thunder because lightning strikes.

The Fire Department has also advised anyone in the water at the time to see a doctor as electrical burns can sometimes have delayed effects.

Parts of Catalina Island received more than three-quarters of an inch of rain in about two hours, said Stuart Seto, a weather specialist with the National Weather Service in Oxnard. 

A moisture-laden monsoonal flow usually spawns thunderstorms when it hits hot weather in the deserts and sometimes in the mountains this time of year, Mr Seto said.

'This time, it came all around San Diego and northwards,' spreading out into the ocean as well as inland.'

A burn mark is seen on the walls of a home that was hit by a lightning strike on Haynes Lane in a residential area of Redondo Beach, California July 27, 2014

A man looks at a BMW car that was severely damaged by a lightning strike on Haynes Lane in a residential area of Redondo Beach, California, on July 27

Earlier in the day, hail and rain fell in San Diego, with half an inch of rain reported in Del Mar, according to The L.A. Times.

About 1,000 customers of San Diego Gas & Electric were left without power, officials said.

Further south in Redonda Beach, an extra 300 people were also without power.

Others reported damage to property by the lightning.

A sizable burn mark could be seen on the front of an upper-level apartment, while severe damage was done to a white BMW convertible parked in a driveway.

 

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