ORMOND BEACH, Fla. (WSVN) — A Volusia County lifeguard is recovering after he was struck by lightning on the sand, but even after being hit, he managed to move others to safety.
Damien Curry said he volunteered to work the Fourth of July and was on the shore of Ormond Beach when a bolt struck from above.
“I’ve got my hand on the side of the truck, and then all of a sudden just ‘boom!’ It just blows up, and I jump through the truck, like, I get lifted off my feet,” he said. “I was like, ‘Holy moly, I’m alive!’ I couldn’t believe it.”
This was an indirect strike. The energy transferred from the patrol truck into Curry’s body.
“I’m shaking, I mean, I’m violently shaking. It was like – I was in panic,” he said. “My whole left side of my body was tingling, pins and needles. I mean, it was like a bomb went off.”
Curry said he got himself together and then was still was able to drive the truck and warn others.
“I’m literally on the [public access system] with the lights on going, ‘Get off the beach, I just got struck by lightning, you’re gonna die,'” he said.
Curry said that when the bolt hit on Saturday, it was only drizzling, and this shows just how fast a storm can turn dangerous.
“If you see clouds and hear thunder, get off the beach, go inside,” he said. “It’s not worth your life, it’s not. I had a close call with death, and it is just not worth it.”
Curry went to the hospital and is now doing better, but the booms and blasts from fireworks on the Fourth and from Sunday’s storms did cause him to have some panic attacks.
Thankfully, lifeguarding is a part-time gig for Curry. He also owns a landscaping business and is running for mayor of Ormond Beach.
“My wife wrote on the fridge, ‘No more lifeguarding,'” he said.
Curry said he is taking a break from lifeguarding for now.
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