SARASOTA — A 33-year-old Seffner man who was killed by lightning on Siesta Beach on Sunday is the 501st person in Florida struck and killed by lightning since 1959, according to records compiled by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
The victim, James W. Barton, who was identified Monday by the Sarasota County Sheriff’s Office, is the third lightning death in Florida this year and first in Sarasota since August 2016, when 50-year-old Fontella Span was struck while taking refuge in a gazebo at Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Park.
There were five lightning-related deaths in Florida in 2017.
Barton was standing on an unguarded part of Siesta Beach about a mile from the main beach pavilion Sunday at about 2:15 p.m. when a storm moved in from the southeast.
There were five lightning-related deaths in Florida in 2017.
Barton was standing on an unguarded part of Siesta Beach about a mile from the main beach pavilion Sunday at about 2:15 p.m. when a storm moved in from the southeast.
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