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Old 07-23-2007, 06:39 AM
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Default Lightning Strikes Diver In Water, Deerfield Bch., FL

Lightning kills diver off Deerfield as thunderstorms roar through

By Ken Kaye | South Florida Sun-Sentinel
July 23, 2007


A 36-year-old man was struck and killed by lightning while diving in the Atlantic Ocean off Deerfield Beach on Sunday afternoon, authorities said.

The incident took place during an afternoon of severe thunderstorms that pelted the region, from Miami to West Palm Beach, with torrential rains, strong winds and pea-sized hail.

At the time of the strike, about 3 p.m., two divers were on a 20-foot boat and two were in the water, said Deerfield Beach Fire Division Chief Gary Fernaays.When one of the divers in the water surfaced, "lighting struck his tank," Fernaays said. "He was approximately 30 feet from the boat at the time."


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The man, whose name was not immediately released, went under water as the other divers attempted to rescue him. It took about 10 minutes for them to get the victim into the boat, Fernaays said. During that time, they radioed for help. Then they drove the boat toward shore and beached it in the 600 block of North Ocean Boulevard, where Deerfield Fire-Rescue already was waiting, Fernaays said.

The victim, who had gone into cardiac arrest, was given CPR. He was taken to North Broward Medical Center in Pompano Beach, where he was pronounced dead, authorities said.

In Margate, lightning also struck a two-story house in the 3000 block of Green Turtle Place, leaving a hole in the roof about 3 feet in diameter and setting a second-floor bedroom on fire, Police Sgt. Andy Zettek said. There were no injuries, as no one was home. The blaze left the home uninhabitable, he said.

The reason squally weather hit so hard on Sunday: Two lines of thunderstorms converged on South Florida from two different directions, said meteorologist Dan Gregoria of the National Weather Service, in Miami.

"Storms developed along the Atlantic coast and started to move inland," he said. "Other storms developed out over the Everglades and moved into the metro areas as well."

East-central Broward County was hit hardest, receiving about 2 to 3 inches of rain, Gregoria said. The weather service issued an urban flood advisory, though no serious flooding was reported on Sunday, other than puddles in streets and low-lying areas.

In Palm Beach County, the metro areas received between .25 and .6 inches of rain, although about 2 inches fell right at the county line, said weather service meteorologist Barry Baxter.

A tornado was reported at about 3:10 p.m. in the 2100 block of Northwest 29th Court in Oakland Park, but officials couldn't confirm that a twister actually touched down.

Even so, the weather in that area was "really bad," said Richard Tingley, a Broward Sheriff's Office communications operator who lives near there.

"There was a lot of rain and wind," he said. "You couldn't even see the car in front of you."

Today's forecast: a 60 percent chance of more showers and thunderstorms.

Staff Writer Alva James-Johnson contributed to this report.

Ken Kaye can be reached at kkaye@sun-sentinel.com or 954-385-7911.
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/loc...,7542713.story
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Old 07-23-2007, 06:57 AM
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My sincere regrets go out to the diver's family and friends in the aftermath of this tragic accident.

I was just north of this beach the afternoon before this accident when the storms were coming eastward. They appeared to be normal thermal storms all be it particularly severe in appearance which in past years have been a regular thing most summer afternoons. In the last several years they have been more erratic and even absent at times.


The radar shortly before the diver lightning accident.


The radar around the same time the day before. I was riding just north of the "x." That is until I pulled the plug before the storms came too close to the ocean from inland.

Unlike the afternoon before, winds were not readily rideable yesterday, the day of the diver accident. That is unless someone rigged and went out just before the storm. A good thing as it turns out for more than the lightning.



This gust spike happened very close to the time of the diver accident. Weather effects us all, best to know about it.
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Old 07-23-2007, 07:56 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by RickI View Post
More related info here: http://www.kiteforum.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?t=2321146

including:

'Though if you're sailing and not touching ground you shouldn't be able to have any concequences from it if it strikes you. !'

Wrong. How many people do you know of that have been struck by lightning, particulary while standing in a ground (water) that suffer no injury (burns from a 50,000 F arc)?

You caught the fact this guy lives in Florida, right? We have had a lot of people injured and some killed by lightning, more than any other place in the USA.

Have you ever seen lightning strike water? It happens very often and it strikes the highest object in the area most frequently. The surface of the sea IS THE GROUND! Forget about the kite for a moment. Just consider all 5 to 6 feet of you on an open sea. You're the highest object in the area.

For more info, checkout The vast majority of lightning injuries and deaths on boats occur on small boats with NO cabin. Sounds like us.

More stats, • The odds of becoming a lightning victim in the U.S. in any one year is 1 in 700,000. The odds of being struck in your lifetime is 1 in 3,000. * Your odds in ignoring an OBVIOUS hazard are much greater of course and even more so in Florida.
* From: HERE

Being a survivor of a lightning strike may not be a picnic either. Lots more people survive than die in lightning strikes, sometimes with serious impairments. More about this HERE and HERE.


The following figure about lightning and boating is from:
http://www.cdc.gov/nasd/docs/d000001...07/d000007.pdf
More at:
http://fksa.org/showthread.php?t=669
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Old 07-23-2007, 02:29 PM
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More information has been released:

Police identify diver killed by lightning off Deerfield

By Ken Kaye | South Florida Sun-Sentinel
1:55 PM EDT, July 23, 2007

Police identified Stephen Wilson Monday as the 36-year-old man who was struck and killed by lightning while diving in the Atlantic Ocean off Deerfield Beach on Sunday afternoon, authorities said.

The incident took place during an afternoon of severe thunderstorms that pelted the region, from Miami to West Palm Beach, with torrential rains, strong winds and pea-sized hail.

At the time of the strike, about 3 p.m., two divers were on a 20-foot boat and two were in the water, said Deerfield Beach Fire Division Chief Gary Fernaays.When one of the divers in the water surfaced, "lighting struck his tank," Fernaays said. "He was approximately 30 feet from the boat at the time."

Wilson, a Deerfield Beach resident, went under water as the other divers attempted to rescue him. It took about 10 minutes for them to get the victim into the boat, Fernaays said. During that time, they radioed for help. Then they drove the boat toward shore and beached it in the 600 block of North Ocean Boulevard, where Deerfield Fire-Rescue already was waiting, Fernaays said.

Wilson, who had gone into cardiac arrest, was given CPR. He was taken to North Broward Medical Center in Pompano Beach, where he was pronounced dead, authorities said.

In Margate, lightning also struck a two-story house in the 3000 block of Green Turtle Place, leaving a hole in the roof about 3 feet in diameter and setting a second-floor bedroom on fire, Police Sgt. Andy Zettek said. There were no injuries, as no one was home. The blaze left the home uninhabitable, he said.

The reason squally weather hit so hard on Sunday: Two lines of thunderstorms converged on South Florida from two different directions, said meteorologist Dan Gregoria of the National Weather Service, in Miami.

"Storms developed along the Atlantic coast and started to move inland," he said. "Other storms developed out over the Everglades and moved into the metro areas as well."

East-central Broward County was hit hardest, receiving about 2 to 3 inches of rain, Gregoria said. The weather service issued an urban flood advisory, though no serious flooding was reported on Sunday, other than puddles in streets and low-lying areas.

In Palm Beach County, the metro areas received between .25 and .6 inches of rain, although about 2 inches fell right at the county line, said weather service meteorologist Barry Baxter.

A tornado was reported at about 3:10 p.m. in the 2100 block of Northwest 29th Court in Oakland Park, but officials couldn't confirm that a twister actually touched down.

Even so, the weather in that area was "really bad," said Richard Tingley, a Broward Sheriff's Office communications operator who lives near there.

"There was a lot of rain and wind," he said. "You couldn't even see the car in front of you."

Today's forecast: a 60 percent chance of more showers and thunderstorms.

Staff Writer Alva James-Johnson contributed to this report.

Ken Kaye can be reached at kkaye@sun-sentinel.com or 954-385-7911. sentinel.com or 954-385-7911.

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/sfl-flbw...a_tab01_layout
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Old 06-25-2010, 06:56 AM
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Normal afternoon thermal storms, those related to tropical systems and to cold fronts ( particularly further north in summer) are moving through. Lightning hazards go up in these fairly common systems this time of year. Just because you ignore an avoidable hazard, doesn't mean it will go away. Use common sense and take care out there.


Standup sessions can be peaceful but they will put you at risk in storms.


A few minutes later. Lightning was going off over both land and water within striking distance throughout the session.

This fellow wasn't struck fortunately but not for lack of trying.


NOAA comments on lightning awareness and precautions:
http://www.lightningsafety.noaa.gov/outdoors.htm



More photos from that session last week at:
http://fksa.org/showthread.php?p=45812#post45812
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Last edited by ricki; 06-25-2010 at 08:28 AM.
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Old 07-28-2014, 11:39 AM
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A scuba diver was reportedly struck as well and is shown being treated above. No additional details have been found about where he was located when struck relative to the water, submerged or at the surface.
From: https://twitter.com/Venice311/status...690369/photo/1


There was a rare lightning storm with injuries yesterday afternoon in Venice Beach, CA. The NWS reported at least four lightning strikes impacting swimmers, surfers and a scuba diver as well as people standing on the beach. Two were knocked unconscious while in the water with one 20 year old man drowning and the other being recovered and revived. Numbers varying in the media but perhaps as many as fourteen were injured in the lightning strike.


Emergency response
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/



A radar image of the lightning storm that came ashore in Venice yesterday.

The La Times said:

"Sunday's approximately 15-minute thunderstorm struck as more than 20,000 people were visiting the southern portion of Venice Beach; at least four direct lightning strikes hit at about 2:20 p.m. A 20-year-old man who was pulled from the water was killed and at least seven others were injured -- one of them critically.

Lightning from the same storm hit Catalina Island about 90 minutes earlier, injuring a 57-year-old man on a golf course in Avalon and igniting two brush fires, officials said.

Witnesses said the thunder and lightning were so explosive that it shook homes, triggered car alarms and caused dogs to start barking."

"Bill Patzert, a climatologist with the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, said the lightning strikes that hit the Southern California coast Sunday from San Diego to Venice are extremely rare. The West Coast has the lowest incidence of lightning strikes in the nation; the odds of being hit are 1 in 7.5 million in California compared to 1 in 600,000 in Florida, the nation's "lightning champion," he said."

"It was all blue skies, except there were some dark clouds coming from the south," he said. "Then just one big crack of lightning — pretty unexpected."

More at http://www.latimes.com/local/westsid...728-story.html



The appearance of the storm
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/nati...icle-1.1882080





Crews respond and setup a triage area for treatment of the victims. The Los Angeles City Fire Department deployed 47 firefighters, eight ambulances and five fire engines to the 3800 block of Ocean Front Walk in Venice.
https://twitter.com/ABC7/status/4935...888768/photo/1


.
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Last edited by ricki; 07-28-2014 at 12:00 PM.
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