Lightning Injures Seven Beachgoers

A lightning bolt struck seven people, seriously injuring one man, minutes after lifeguards began clearing the beach because of a severe thunderstorm.

Beth Harmon and her husband, Donnie, were scurrying up the beach when the bolt knocked them face down Wednesday.

“You could see the lightning, but we didn’t think it would hit us,” said Beth Harmon, who was vacationing from Greenville, Ind. “It was just fast. It paralyzed me. I could move my head, but I couldn’t move anything else.”

The lightning stopped her 43-year-old husband’s heart, she said, but doctors revived him. He was listed in guarded condition Thursday.

Five other people were treated at the scene.