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Rare storm at California beach hard to see coming

Doves fly away over a memorial paddle-out for Joe Larson, the original owner of Hinano, as the US Coast Guard holds training exercises at Venice Beach in Los Angeles Monday, July 28, 2014. Los Angeles' popular Venice Beach teemed with people enjoying a weekend outing on the boardwalk and sand when lifeguards and other witnesses say lightning from a rare summer thunderstorm hit without warning, injuring or rattling more than a dozen people and leaving a 21-year-old man dead. The witnesses said the strike hit with a tremendous boom about 2:30 p.m. Sunday, rattling buildings and showering a lifeguard headquarters with sparks. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)
Doves fly away over a memorial paddle-out for Joe Larson, the original owner of Hinano, as the US Coast Guard holds training exercises at Venice Beach in Los Angeles Monday, July 28, 2014. Los Angeles' popular Venice Beach teemed with people enjoying a weekend outing on the boardwalk and sand when lifeguards and other witnesses say lightning from a rare summer thunderstorm hit without warning, injuring or rattling more than a dozen people and leaving a 21-year-old man dead. The witnesses said the strike hit with a tremendous boom about 2:30 p.m. Sunday, rattling buildings and showering a lifeguard headquarters with sparks. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)

By Associated Press 4 min read

LOS ANGELES (AP) – A thunderstorm formed so rapidly over a Southern California beach that experts said Monday it was impossible for anyone to predict a lightning strike would turn a day of carefree fun into one of terror.

The phenomenon so rare that lifeguards lack an emergency warning system struck Sunday afternoon at Los Angeles’ popular Venice Beach, killing a 21-year-old man and injuring a dozen others.

Along the beach, famous internationally for its jugglers, skaters, medical marijuana dealers and boardwalk preachers and hucksters, panic instantly set in.

“All of a sudden, there was a huge explosion and everyone dropped to the ground. I thought, ‘Is there a bomb? Are there fireworks?’ The sky got black and then it started downpouring,” said Sam Solomon, a 24-year-old outdoor marketer from Los Angeles.

Although a commonplace in many other parts of the country, lightning rarely ever strikes the sand along the beaches of the Western U.S., climatologist Bill Patzert said. As a result, Southern Californians were completely unprepared.