Family Hit by Lightning on Florida Beach

Three members of a family were struck by lightning Friday while sheltering under an umbrella at St. Pete Beach in Florida's Pinellas County, officials say. St. Pete Beach Fire Rescue and Pinellas County Sheriff's Office personnel responded to the scene around 12:19pm. Two adults were treated at the scene and declined further care. A 17-year-old girl was taken to Tampa General Hospital for treatment, CBS News reports.

The family had reportedly been standing under an umbrella during a thunderstorm. Jennifer Tillman, who witnessed the strike from her apartment, described seeing the bolt hit and recalled the noise building up before it happened. "You could hear it, it was coming closer and closer and closer, and then it happened," Tillman tells WTSP. "It was just one of those things, I don't know, that you can never—you can't unsee." According to Tillman, a bystander aided the injured girl, while the two adults appeared to be in shock.

There were around 50 lightning strikes on the beach between 11:30am and 12:30pm, according to the ABC Action News weather team. The CDC advises that the safest place during a lightning storm is indoors, and warns against carrying metal objects like umbrellas. "If you are out on the beach or anywhere with an umbrella that is taller than you, you are literally creating a lightning rod," says WTSP meteorologist Bobby Deskins.