![]() Heim actually got to the scene roughly the same time as first responders did. Everybody that we worked with went down to the ground.”Īfter running back to his car, Heim noticed three people lying on the sand right along the Gulf’s edge, so he ran up and noticed they all were lying face down on the ground. The strike was obviously louder and closer. “As soon as we locked the shed, we heard a KA-BOOM. “It was like zero visibility driving down to the (Lani) Kai and there were (lightning) bolts everywhere,” he said. He said he could feel and hear the explosions in the sand while he was helping to put personal watercraft away. Heim, who currently works on the beachfront in chair rentals, was returning the company four-wheeler to Lani Kai Beach Resort when the extreme weather began. “Our thoughts and prayers go out to the families.” Andre heard a report that there were 47 lightning strikes in the area during a 15-minute timeframe.Īndre does not remember a lightning fatality since moving to the Beach, but said Public Safety Committee member Al Durrett told him something similar happened roughly 15 years ago. The storm came in swiftly at roughly 2:10 p.m. The other gentlemen was unconscious when they took him off on a stretcher,” Andre said. One (of the hospitalized was a female that was either an older teenager or in her 20s who was pretty coherent when they carried her off in a stretcher. “My understanding is (the deceased) suffered cardiac arrest and two were hospitalized. Andre called Town Manager Don Stilwell to inform the rest of the Beach Council. Town of Fort Myers Beach Vice Mayor Dan Andre said he first heard about the strike shortly after it happened from a businessperson whose store is in the area. Zac Latawiec, 14, and Chelsea Gill, 16, were both transported to a local hospital for treatment where Zac was listed in critical condition Wednesday afternoon. Lee County Sheriff’s Office deputies were called to assist Lee County EMS and the Fort Myers Beach Fire and Rescue on the shoreline near Beach Access 33 at the 1600 block of Estero Boulevard.Īccording to the police report, Scott Wilcox, 41, died on site. The lightning strike happened on the beach shortly after 2 p.m. It looked like three systems converged on us at one time. It came in from the north, the south, the west and the east. But yesterday’s (storm) was totally different. We can usually tell when storms are going to hit. “There was a huge discussion amongst us all about being so-called experts to weather. “I have never seen anything like this,” he said Wednesday.
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