JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Lisa Dunn says it was a sunny afternoon with clear skies when her nephew, Joshua Lehmbeck, was struck by lightning while doing yardwork in the backyard of a client’s home in Fort Caroline.
She says she was just down the street when it happened a week ago on July 6.
“We heard a big sonic boom, and everybody around us, including us, thought it was like a transformer or lightning,” Dunn said. “And we look on the radar; nothing around. We go outside and look, nothing around, and then it turns out that it was him.”
She says that after the boom, the homeowner went outside and found him on the ground.
>>> STREAM ACTION NEWS JAX LIVE <<<
“Boots flown off, shirt flown off, his pants were still on, but he had lightning strikes going through them,” Dunn said. “It went into his hat, down his ear. That’s why he was having hearing loss. He was wearing two chains wrapped around his neck, all the way down his body. You can see the stripe through his groin area, through his right leg, and out through his toe.”
Dunn says Lehmbeck spent three days in the burn unit — something she says hospital staff were surprised by.
“They’ve never seen someone leave that quickly from the burn unit,” Dunn said. “Even the doctors were very surprised he wasn’t having cardiac issues or any organ issues.”
Dunn says staff hypothesize that his sweat may have helped him through something called the “Flashover effect.” Core Em describes this as when “lightning travels across the body’s surface,” allowing the current to travel along the outside of the body, increasing survival and decreasing the likelihood of internal injuries.
Our First Alert Weather Team says that lightning deaths that happened while doing yardwork accounted for 3% of all lightning deaths in the U.S. between 2006 and 2025.
Dunn says she’s just happy Lehmbeck will not be adding to that statistic.
“They were really amazed how lucky he was and how good he was doing,” Dunn said. “He had a guardian angel over him, like he was truly blessed during that moment.”
[DOWNLOAD: Free Action News Jax app for alerts as news breaks]
Exactly one year ago today, another family was struck by lightning at the St. Augustine Pier.
Jayme Schuler says she was walking down the pier with both of her parents on July 12, 2025, when her and her dad, Phillip, were both knocked to the ground by a lightning strike.
They told Action News Jax last year that by the time they noticed lightning in the distance, it was already too late.
“All of a sudden, I felt a ton of bricks hit me in the head,” Schuler said. “So I got struck, but then it kind of knocked me sideways.”
Another person was struck by lightning just over a week ago in Volusia County.
[SIGN UP: Action News Jax Daily Headlines Newsletter]
Damien Curry, an Ormond Beach lifeguard, told our sister station, WFTV in Orlando, that he was indirectly struck during his shift on the Fourth of July.
Lieutenant Maxwell Ervanian with Jax Beach Ocean Rescue says When the thunder roars, go indoors.
“Our lifeguards do a pretty significant job in prevention and warning when we do have dangerous weather incoming into the Jacksonville Beach area,” Ervanian said. “It’s really important that we stress to all bathers and beachgoers: when you hear thunder to leave the beach and seek shelter.”
Click here to download the free Action News Jax news and weather apps, click here to download the Action News Jax Now app for your smart TV and click here to stream Action News Jax live.
