Tourist dies after lightning strikes from clear sky over Florida beach, cops say

A tourist hit by lightning on a Florida beach has died after days spent in critical condition at a hospital, according to first responders.

The identity of the man and details of his injuries were not released.

“On Friday June 20th, a 29-year-old man from Colorado was struck by lightning shortly before 12:30 p.m. while standing in ankle-deep water in New Smyrna Beach,” Director Tamra Malphurs of Volusia County Beach Safety Ocean Rescue said in a June 23 news release.

“CPR was immediately initiated, and we performed life-saving measures. He was transported from the scene unresponsive, and he sadly lost his life from the injuries he sustained.”

Volusia County Sheriff Mike Chitwood says the man was accompanied by his wife. They were on their honeymoon, WESH reported.

“They were visiting our beaches to celebrate their marriage. In one terrifying second everything changed,” Chitwood wrote in a Facebook post. “I also want to thank everyone who worked so quickly to render aid and get him to the hospital for a fighting chance.”

Malphurs told WOFL the lightning strike “was out of the blue,” with no storm overhead. The storm was actually five miles west of the beach, the station said.

Such lightning is a phenomenon known as a “bolt from the blue” and “starts inside a cloud, goes out the side of the storm, then travels horizontally away from the cloud before going to ground,” the National Severe Storms Laboratory reports. The resulting strike can hit the ground with a blue sky above, miles away from the storm, the laboratory says.

The deadly strike happened one day before three other Florida beachgoers were injured when lightning struck a tiki hut at Marco Island on the state’s Gulf Coast, according to Marco Island police.

It happened around 3:45 p.m. June 21, and the three victims, all in their 20s, were taken to a hospital for treatment of minor injuries, police said. Their injuries are linked to ground current from the strike, officials said.

New Smyrna Beach is about a 55-mile drive northeast from Orlando.

This story was originally published June 23, 2025 at 2:21 PM with the headline "Tourist dies after lightning strikes from clear sky over Florida beach, cops say."