A lightning strike hits a couple in Winter Garden, Florida: cameras capture the rescue

Rescuers assist one of the people struck by lightning in Winter Garden, Florida (Video capture edited with AI)Photo © Captura Fox 35

The images from the body cameras of the Winter Garden Police show the distressing minutes in which officers and several bystanders assisted a couple struck by lightning while walking along the West Orange Trail in central Florida.

The video, recently released by FOX 35 Orlando, corresponds to the incident that occurred on the night of September 2nd.

The victims were identified as Aaron and Clare Walenga, a couple who ended up hospitalized after the shock.

When the agents arrived at the scene, they found Aaron lying on the ground, with a serious head injury and difficulties in responding.

A few meters away was Clare, also injured and, according to witnesses, initially unconscious.

One of the people who witnessed what happened had already started to help the woman.

The 911 calls released days earlier revealed that the emergency operator guided a witness to perform chest compressions while the first responders were on their way. 

The couple was transferred to the Orlando Regional Medical Center.

Two days later, people close to the couple reported that both were conscious, speaking, and showing signs of recovery.

The Walenga family was walking along the path when a storm hit the area.

The FOX 35 radar detected three lightning strikes in the vicinity between 7:15 p.m. and 7:30 p.m., one of which was near the section of the West Orange Trail where the emergency occurred.

The case had a very different outcome from another one that occurred days later, also in September, in central Florida.

Matthew Eric Jenkins, 20 years old, died after an apparent lightning strike in Celebration, where he had just begun his participation in the Disney College Program.

He was found unconscious on a trail and later died in the hospital.

In August, a mother and her two-year-old son died in Margate, Broward County, after being struck by lightning.

Emergency teams attempted to revive them, and both were transported to hospitals, but they passed away shortly afterward.

A month earlier, a man died and three other people were injured in front of Fort Myers Beach after a single lightning strike hit the area where they were swimming.

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CiberCuba Editorial Team

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