A 39-year-old woman has died after being struck by lightning on a Brazilian beach during a Friday evening storm.
The victim, whose name has not been released, was walking with a companion at Pinheira Beach in Palhoça, a city in southeastern Brazil, at 6:03 p.m. Local time Friday when she abruptly stopped. At least five seconds passed before a lightning bolt hit her, and she collapsed in front of the person with her, according to video footage of the incident.
The Santa Catarina fire department arrived approximately 15 minutes later and found the woman unconscious with burn marks across her body. Her companion was performing CPR when rescuers reached the scene.
Paramedics used an automated external defibrillator in an attempt to resuscitate her before rushing her to an emergency care facility in the municipality of Sonho. She was intubated there and then transferred to a hospital in the nearby city of São José, where she died Saturday morning.
The São José Regional Hospital system said in a statement that the woman was “taken to the hospital in serious condition, where she remained under the care of the medical team, receiving all the necessary support.”
The woman’s death came as severe storms hammered Santa Catarina and the neighboring state of Rio Grande do Sul on Friday night, killing at least two other people. In Rio Grande do Sul, an 8-year-old boy died when a tree fell on his home while he was sleeping alongside his 4-month-old brother. The baby and the boys’ mother were injured in the collapse, according to the Rio Grande do Sul Civil Defense.
A 72-year-old man also died in Rio Grande do Sul after floodwaters swept away the car he was driving Friday night. A 65-year-old passenger managed to escape and was hospitalized for treatment.
The lightning strike on Pinheira Beach was captured on video, showing the woman walking normally with her companion moments before the bolt struck without warning.
The storms across southern Brazil caused multiple fatalities through different mechanisms, with lightning, falling trees and flash flooding all contributing to the death toll.
The incident adds to a growing number of lightning-related deaths recorded this year. According to National Weather Service data, at least 12 people have been killed by lightning strikes in the United States so far in 2026.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that at least 37 million lightning strikes hit the ground in the US annually. The odds of being struck are less than one in a million, and at least 90 percent of victims survive.