PETER BELFIORE Daily Mail Thu, 29 Jul 2021 11:19 UTC
Bethune was with family on Tigertail Beach on July 17 when he was struck by lightning that afternoon
A Georgia teen died Wednesday afternoon, 11 days after he was struck by lightning on a Florida Beach.
The teen was one of five people struck by lightning on beaches in southwest Florida over a 10-day span in July, the Naples Daily News reported.
Walker Bethune, 17, was just a few feet away from his family on Tigertail Beach, where they were vacationing on July 17, when he was struck, according to Marco Island police.
'Please know that today's update comes with heavy hearts for ALL of us that LOVE Walker,' his family reported on social media Wednesday evening.
'He passed away peacefully this afternoon, listening to one of his favorite Allman Brothers songs, appropriately named, "Soulshine."'
Police said they arrived on the scene at 3.51pm, shortly after the lightning strike, and saw Bethune's father, David, administering CPR on his son, who was unresponsive.
They were able to successfully revive him on the scene.
He was rushed to a local hospital in nearby Naples and then airlifted to another hospital in Miami.
On Monday, however, friend Julie Chandler reported that Bethune's brain had begun to swell.
'Please continue in BIG BOLD FIERCE prayer for Walker's brain and swelling. The goal was to keep him very calm and stable today, which was accomplished,' she wrote.
Bethune was a senior at the Stratford Academy in Macon Georgia, the school reported on Facebook.
'Tonight we received the heartbreaking news that Walker Bethune passed away from his injuries sustained during his tragic accident,' the school wrote. 'You have fervently prayed for Walker and his family over the last 11 days and we ask that you do not stop. Walker was loved by all within our school family and we lift up his family and friends during this unbearably difficult time.'
He was one of the five people who have been struck by lightning on beaches in southwest Florida over a 10-day span in July, the Naples Daily News reported.
On Monday, a 12-year-old Girl and 38-year-old man were struck on a beach in North Naples, and are in stable condition, according to the outlet.
Additionally, a married couple visiting from South Carolina were struck on Saturday in Sanibel.
Their church identified the two as Brent and Kristen Jerome. Brent remains in critical condition.
Bethune's will be the fourth lightning fatality in the United States in 2021, according to the National Weather Service, and the second to have taken place on a beach.
It is also likely the first to have taken place in Florida this year, although the agency has not updated its tally since July 20.
On June 12, a 15-year-old girl visiting with her family from Alabama was killed by lightning while swimming in the waters off of Tybee Island, Georgia.
She was hit around 2.30pm that Saturday, and rushed to a local hospital where she was pronounced dead.
On average there are 49 people killed by lightning in the US each year.
In 2020, 17 people were killed.
A lightning warning was declared on Marco Island at 2.15pm the day Bethune was struck, Bob Dugan chief executive officer and president of Thor Guard, a lighting warning system in southwest Florida, told the Naples Daily News reported.
The warning ended at 4.03pm, a little more than 10 minutes after police and EMS arrived on the scene.
'That was the last strike from the storm,' Dugan said.
LindaMay Around here, they can come up quick, real quick. Everyone around here knows the feeling of running through the ozone smell trying to get to your car or whatever when it starts banging around you like a mortar barrage. (Interestingly, when folks do run as such, they look like what you see in movies where guys are running from artillery, the way you run bent over at the waist and moving fast.)
LindaMay I know of no one who has not had to rush from a lightning storm.
Up in the plains, and the rest of America, you see the fronts coming - hell, you can predict them a day in advance. Around here? Summer thunderstorms just 'pop right up' in a flash. (Everyone has stories of concerts destroyed by surprise summer storms, such as Led Zep, Tampa 7/77? Fleetwood Mac, Orlando 76? I forget but there were lots of them.
Granted, we locals are quicker at picking them up but again, I know of no one here who's not had to scurry amongst lightning bolts and I'd bet that's what they were doing. (If they were tourists, I'd wonder if it was just typical tourist stupidity, but someone from Georgia would know this stuff also.)
As re 'announce' themselves, I can recall many first strikes that caused me and friends to start hauling ass to safety and I'm talking about instantaneous noise of the bolt (thunder - though up close it's more like an explosion) and the flash because that was the first one.
As if to prove the point, I'm on a backup computer because my primary one got zapped two days ago and I need to salvage its hard drive. (I actually saw the arcing current in my modem at the same instant that it hit just out my window (~50 yards away.) All at once, and that was the first 'notice' I had. FWIW, no one can maintain that Florida's boring.
Reader Comments
RC
Up in the plains, and the rest of America, you see the fronts coming - hell, you can predict them a day in advance. Around here? Summer thunderstorms just 'pop right up' in a flash. (Everyone has stories of concerts destroyed by surprise summer storms, such as Led Zep, Tampa 7/77? Fleetwood Mac, Orlando 76? I forget but there were lots of them.
Granted, we locals are quicker at picking them up but again, I know of no one here who's not had to scurry amongst lightning bolts and I'd bet that's what they were doing. (If they were tourists, I'd wonder if it was just typical tourist stupidity, but someone from Georgia would know this stuff also.)
As re 'announce' themselves, I can recall many first strikes that caused me and friends to start hauling ass to safety and I'm talking about instantaneous noise of the bolt (thunder - though up close it's more like an explosion) and the flash because that was the first one.
As if to prove the point, I'm on a backup computer because my primary one got zapped two days ago and I need to salvage its hard drive. (I actually saw the arcing current in my modem at the same instant that it hit just out my window (~50 yards away.) All at once, and that was the first 'notice' I had. FWIW, no one can maintain that Florida's boring.
RC
I ve never experienced one creeping up on me, but I have a tremendous 6th sense, always have. (Or maybe it is my Guardian Angel, the bestest😍)
I love that expression!!🙆♀️😎