Lightning Kills Woman At Wasaga Beach
Posted July 20, 2006 12:00 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Frantic cries for help shattered the peaceful aura of a day at the beach on Thursday after a 26-year-old woman was struck by a bolt of lightning and killed on the shores of Wasaga.
The bolt struck perilously close to a baby in a carriage, who was miraculously unharmed. Two other women suffered non-life-threatening injuries.
An O.P.P. officer arrived on the scene moments later and started C.P.R. on 26-year-old Angela Excell of Angus, Ontario, who had no pulse. Despite desperate efforts to revive her, she was later pronounced dead at hospital.
Jennifer Bellrissimo was sitting in her car nearby when the bolt struck.
“You felt it, you felt the ground kind of shake,” she recalls. “I felt the car move.”
Peter Meyer was on the beach at the time, and witnessed the harrowing event.
“I was surprised that that many people were near the water still,” he said, noting the dark skies that had moved in. “When it hit the land I think it was attracted to the stroller and umbrella.”
Fire officials are warning people to never underestimate a storm.
“Do not stay on the beach,” advises Mike McWilliam of the Wasaga Beach Fire Department. “Get off the golf courses. Do not hide under a tree. Make sure to get in a building.”
