California lightning hits 14; 1 man dies

Associated Press

LOS ANGELES

A coroner’s official says a 20-year-old man has died after lightning struck 14 people at popular Venice Beach in Los Angeles and Catalina Island.

Los Angeles County coroner’s Lt. Larry Dietz says the man was taken from the beach and pronounced dead at a hospital Sunday afternoon.

Dietz says he can’t confirm whether the man was a swimmer who was pulled from the water and given CPR.

Thirteen people, including a 15-year-old boy, were jolted by lightning at the beach as rare summer thunderstorms hit Southern California.

Nine went to hospitals, including one who remains in critical condition.

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. He 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.

Hundreds of lightning strikes were reported, but the storms were vanishing by later Sunday afternoon as they moved northwest.