Man dies after being struck by lightning while trying to get kids off new jersey beach during storm

A man died after he was struck by lightning this week as he raced to the beach to warn others about an impending storm .

Bystanders discovered an unconscious Patrick Dispoto, 59, on J Street Beach in Seaside Park, New Jersey around 7:40 p.m. over the weekend. He was quickly transported to a nearby hospital where he was pronounced dead. The good samaritan's girlfriend, Ruth Fussell, said her partner made sure she was safe in the car before he dashed back to warn a group of children about the dangerous weather.

There were reportedly no lifeguards on duty at the time. The thunder and lightning had intensified by the time he reached the shore. He was found lying in the sand unresponsive soon after. CPR was administered immediately to no avail. He was pronounced dead around 9 p.m. shortly after he was admitted into the hospital .

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The report from an autopsy conducted Tuesday confirmed that Dispoto did indeed perish from lightning, News 12 New Jersey reported. SGT Andrew Casole of the Seaside Park police confirmed the results of the autopsy to several media outlets. The incident called attention to the Seaside Park town's lightning detection systems, which failed to detect lightning despite advancements in its new sensors.

“We don’t want to tell people when the storm is here, we want to tell people that the storm is coming so that they can stay ahead of it,” Seaside Park lifeguard captain Jim Rankin said. “In the event of a thunderstorm, the beach is a very dangerous place to be. So if you feel things like a wind shift, if it’s fluttering back and forth between hot and cold, you see the clouds, you hear little rumbles of thunder — those are signs to get off the beach,” Rankin said.

"By definition, every thunderstorm contains lightning. Therefore, every thunderstorm is potentially dangerous," New Jersey 101.5 chief meteorologist Dan Zarrow said.

"Lightning is always looking for the easiest path from cloud-to-ground," Zarrow said, adding, "On a wide open beach — with no trees, buildings, or structures around — a person can often be the most effective conductor around."

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"If you can hear thunder, you are close enough to the storm to be struck by lightning,” Zarrow said, adding one key safety tip: “When thunder roars, head indoors."

The National Weather service said there are 1,800 thunderstorms occurring around the globe, which means about 100 lightning flashes appear in the sky every second, totaling in about 8 million per day. Approximately 86 Americans across the country have died each year due to a lightning strike since 1959.

Deadly lightning strikes typically occur while an individual is swimming, hiking or playing golf, according to the National Weather Association. Those activities are common but the chance of a person being struck by lightning in one-in-600,000.