A teenage girl in Florida has died after being hit by lightning while hunting with her father in the northern part of Florida.
Baylee Holbrook, 16, and her father were both hit after lightning hit a tree on Tuesday, Putnam County officials said.
Baylee, an avid hunter and student at Palatka High School — was on her latest outing with her father, Matthew on Tuesday afternoon when lightning struck a tree they were next to in Putnam County, News4JAX reported.
The blast knocked both father and daughter unconscious. When Matthew became alert he found Baylee not breathing, according to the Putnam County Sheriff’s Office.
Matthew provided CPR on his daughter until paramedics arrived to take her to a trauma center where the teen died on Thursday morning.
Her classmates gathered at Palatka Junior-Senior High School on Wednesday to pray for her and her family.
“She cares so much about everyone else,” Willie McKinnon, a family friend and pastor, told BBC’s US news partner CBS.
“She has a heart for her friends, people she loves, people she comes in contact with and she has a heart for people in general,” he said.
Baylee was a varsity cheerleader, and her friends said the teen loved to hunt and be outdoors.
Her high school cancelled all its athletic events on Thursday in mourning, while her classmates and friends gathered at a local church for collective prayer.
“We are in prayer for the Holbrook family and reflecting as well as sharing,” said Trinity Baptist Church in a post on social media.
The Putnam County Sheriff’s Office has warned that there has been an increase in lightning strikes this week in the Palatka area, about 60 miles (96km) south of Jacksonville.
“Storms can come quickly and lightning can strike up to 10 miles away from any rainfall,” the office warned.
The CDC noted that Florida, Texas, Colorado, North Carolina and Alabama have the most lightning deaths, and that 73% of deaths occur during the summer months.
Data also shows that one out of four lightning strike victims are young people aged 15 to 24, and that six out of 10 lightning deaths happen during an outdoor leisure activity.
Sources: BBC, NY Post.
