Watch patrons freak out as lightning sparks fire outside beach bar
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As neighborhoods across Jacksonville cleaned up and dried out from two big storms, video emerged showing a series of lightning strikes, one of them starting a fire on the sand dunes in Neptune Beach.
Exclusive cellphone video obtained by Action News shows the moment lightning hit the dunes behind the Lemon Bar in Neptune Beach.
In the video, the patrons are surprised as the lightning rocks the bar, eventually starting a small fire outside. Heavy rain quickly put the flames out.
NOTE: Profanity has been bleeped out in the video.
Lightning sparked at least one other fire. A lightning bolt hit a house in Atlantic Beach, starting a small fire in the insulation. Nobody was injured.
Duval County Emergency Management reported several lightning strikes and lots of downed trees during the storm.
The afternoon heavy rains nailed the Action News studios on Southside. On the Hart Bridge, the rain was so heavy you couldn’t see downtown.
And in Arlington off the corner of Redberry and Cesery, witnesses said high winds blew a massive tree branch down on top of a motorcyclist.
“The whole limb came out of the tree and literally engulfed him,” said Edward Johnson, who said he saw the whole thing happen from his driver seat.
“We basically tried to keep him calm, keep him breathing,” Johnson said.
A tow truck hauled off the Honda after it slid about 150 feet from the tree into a fence.
The Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office said the rider had road rash but would recover.
“He had an angel on that bike with him. That tree should've killed him,” Johnson said.
In Jacksonville Beach, flash flooding caused a major problem for the afternoon traffic rush.
