ORLANDO, Fla. — A fatal lightning strike in Celebration this week is the latest reminder of how quickly an ordinary outdoor activity can turn deadly during a Florida thunderstorm.
Florida has recorded six lightning deaths so far in 2026, according to data from the National Lightning Safety Council reviewed by Channel 9.
That is already above the state’s median annual total over the past decade.
From 2016 through 2026, Florida recorded 57 lightning deaths, averaging just over five per year. The median was four.
The annual number has ranged from three deaths in 2020 to 10 in 2016.
The latest Central Florida case involved 20-year-old Matthew Eric Jenkins, a Michigan man who had recently moved to Florida for the Disney College Program.
Jenkins was found unresponsive Sept. 8 along a walking path in Celebration after witnesses reported seeing a lightning strike nearby.
His family told Channel 9 that Jenkins was an avid runner who was training for the Chicago Marathon and enjoyed running in Celebration.
What were people doing when lightning turned deadly?
A Channel 9 review of National Weather Service and National Lightning Safety Council records found that Central Florida’s lightning deaths have happened during a wide range of seemingly routine outdoor activities.
In New Smyrna Beach in 2025, a 29-year-old man was standing in the water at the beach when he was fatally struck.
In Brevard County in 2023, a 39-year-old man was boating when lightning killed him. That same year, a 24-year-old construction worker in Deltona was killed while working on a rooftop.
The pattern was especially pronounced in 2022, when all four of Florida’s recorded lightning deaths happened in Central Florida.
A 42-year-old woman in Winter Springs was in a park waiting for school dismissal when she was killed.
Two boys, ages 13 and 11, were killed while rowing on a lake in Orlando.
The fourth victim, in New Smyrna Beach, was doing lawn care near a tree.
Other Central Florida cases include:
- A 58-year-old man grilling in his yard next to a tree in Apopka in 2020.
- A 45-year-old man riding a motorcycle on a highway in Volusia County in 2019.
- A 44-year-old man boating on a lake in Umatilla in 2018.
- A 35-year-old man walking on the beach in Satellite Beach in 2017.
- A 33-year-old woman standing in the water at the beach in Daytona Beach in 2016.
The cases underscore that fatal strikes are not limited to people caught in open fields or participating in extreme outdoor activities.
Florida lightning deaths by year
National Lightning Safety Council data show:
- 2026: 6
- 2025: 4
- 2024: 6
- 2023: 4
- 2022: 4
- 2021: 4
- 2020: 3
- 2019: 4
- 2018: 7
- 2017: 5
- 2016: 10
The National Weather Service uses statistics and graphics compiled by the National Lightning Safety Council and cautions that recent fatality data are preliminary and can be updated as additional information becomes available.
See the National Lightning Safety Council’s lightning fatality data.
When thunder roars, go indoors
The National Weather Service warns that there is no safe place outside when thunderstorms are nearby.
Lightning can strike more than 10 miles from the center of a thunderstorm, meaning someone can be in danger even when rain has not yet started at their location.
The safest options are a substantial enclosed building or a hard-topped vehicle.
The NWS recommends immediately heading indoors when thunder can be heard and remaining sheltered for at least 30 minutes after the last clap of thunder.
Read more lightning safety tips from the National Weather Service
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