Philly man killed by lightning on Florida beach
Lamar Rayfield, a 35-year-old Philadelphia resident, was struck by lightning on a Brevard County beach on the east coast of Florida, according to officials there.
A Philadelphia man was killed by lightning on a beach on Florida's east coast Friday, according to officials there.
Lamar Rayfield, 35, was with a group at SPRA Park, just south of Cocoa Beach, when he and another man were struck by lightning during a storm around 5:30 p.m., said Tod Goodyear, public information officer with the Brevard County Sheriff's Office.
Brevard County Ocean Rescue lifeguard captain Ashley Nolan and a bystander performed CPR on Rayfield, who was pronounced dead at Viera Hospital, Goodyear said. The other victim was listed in stable condition.
Rayfield was the fifth person in Florida to die after being struck by lightning this year and the 11th nationwide, according to a National Weather Service database.
Nolan spoke to Florida Today about how dangerous lightning at the beach can be.
"We try to warn people all the time," Nolan said. "These Florida summers, we try to get people off the beach all the time … because people don't take the lightning seriously, but it is so dangerous and so deadly. Lightning in Florida in the summertime is not something you want to mess with. It takes one second, and one strike, and unfortunately, that's what happened here today."