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- 3 family members struck by lightning on Florida beach</p>
<p>Kerry Breen July 5, 2025 at 9:20 PM</p>
<p>/ Getty Images</p>
<p>A family of three was struck by lightning while under an umbrella at a beach in Florida's Pinellas County, officials said Friday.</p>
<p>St. Pete Beach Fire Rescue was dispatched to the scene at 12:19 p.m., Deputy Fire Chief Adam Poirrer said. Multiple units from the fire rescue team and Pinellas County Sheriff's Office responded and rendered emergency aid, Porrier said.</p>
<p>Two adult victims were treated on-scene and refused further treatment. A 17-year-old girl was taken to Tampa General Hospital. There was no immediate update available on her condition.</p>
<p>CBS affiliate WTSP reported that the family had been standing under their umbrella during a thunderstorm. Jennifer Tillman said she saw the whole thing from her apartment overlooking the beach.</p>
<p>"You could hear it, it was coming closer and closer and closer, and then it happened," Tillman told WTSP. "I don't know, I don't know. It was just one of those things, I don't know, that you can never - you can't unsee."</p>
<p>Tillman said that a Good Samaritan picked up the girl after the lightning strike. She said the other two people appeared to be in shock after the strike.</p>
<p>Images from the scene showed the family's umbrella singed and snapped in half, with other belongings damaged by the lightning strike. Dead gulls were also visible in the area.</p>
<p>The safest place to be during a lightning storm is inside, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The agency recommends against carrying any metal objects, including umbrellas. Metal can conduct electricity, and a person is more likely to be struck by lightning if carrying a conductor above shoulder height.</p>
<p>"If you are out on the beach or anywhere with an umbrella that is taller than you, you are literally creating a lightning rod," WTSP meteorologist Bobby Deskins said.</p>
<p>Tillman said that just hours after the incident, the storm had cleared out and new beachgoers had come to celebrate the 4th of July with fireworks.</p>
<p>"A whole new wave of people came," Tillman said. "Like nothing had ever happened."</p>
<p>St. Pete Beach is a small city on a barrier island in Pinellas County, about 20 miles southwest of Tampa.</p>
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Source: AOL General News
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