ST. AUGUSTINE, Fla. – A North Carolina couple is still recovering after lightning struck them in St. Augustine over the weekend.
Stephanie and Kelly Bayliss were among five people hurt by that lightning strike near the St. Augustine Pier on Saturday afternoon.
It is a trip they will never forget.
Stephanie Bayliss told News4JAX that she never thought in a million years that was how her first visit to St. Augustine would go.
She and her wife, Kelly, were on the beach on Saturday. Around 2:30 p.m., they noticed some dark clouds forming in the distance. There was no rain or thunder.
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They decided to pack up, but before they could leave, the lightning hit them and the pier.
“I felt the jolt through my body,” Stephanie said. “It was a horrible pain. Everything went blank. Everything was super loud. My ears hurt, and they were muffled. As soon as the second was over, I had a splitting headache. My wife turned around to me and said, ‘I just got hit in the back of the head.’ I said, ‘I did too.’ I felt it through my body. My body instantly tensed up. It felt like an electric shock. So much pain in my body for a split second.”
Stephanie’s index finger is discolored as a result.
“When I looked down, I saw a spark on my index finger, and everything went white,” she said. “There was a really loud sound because of the lightning strike. My ears were muffled, my head was instantly hurting. My body was hurting. My fingers on my right hand were tingling.”
Stephanie describes what she remembers about the chaotic scene.
“We were panicking, and all Kelly was saying was, ‘My chest, my heart. Everything is hurting,’” she said. “People were crying, and everybody started running toward the gift shop. I remember telling Kelly that we had to go. She was terrified. I was terrified, too. I felt like at that moment there would be safety in numbers. We were running toward the gift shop and that was like the scariest moment ever because I did not know if it was going to strike again.”
They made it to the gift shop at the entrance of the pier, where Stephanie says several people helped them until first responders arrived.
“There was a girl who was helping us,” Stephanie said. “She gave Kelly a bottle of water. She was standing with us. She was the one who called 911 for us. The man from the gift shop was extremely nice. He let Kelly sit on one of the chairs because she was about to pass out. He was extremely, extremely nice and tried to help.”
Kelly was treated for her injuries at a hospital. Stephanie declined medical attention only so she could ride in the ambulance with her wife.
One man had to be airlifted to a hospital, where he continues to recover.
“[Kelly] said that she felt as if somebody hit her in the back of the head with like a baseball bat,” Stephanie said. “She says apart from her having a headache, she feels the most intense pressure in the back of her head.”
Stephanie and Kelly are back home in North Carolina with no idea of how long the aftereffects will last.
“She has been getting pale,” Stephanie said about Kelly. “She cannot stand up for too long without going nauseous and lightheaded. She says her body has been hurting her, and she feels very weak. I have been having a lot of nausea, lightheaded. My blood pressure has been extremely low. We have just been having headaches, nausea and a lot of memory loss. Our ears are very muffled.”
Despite the injuries, both women are grateful it was not worse.
Stephanie told News4JAX she plans to follow up with her primary doctor this week, but she is more worried about Kelly and is considering taking her back to a hospital in North Carolina if the effects do not ease up soon.
