Anastasia Gonzalez says she was home alone with her 3-month-old daughter, Oakley, on July 26 when lightning struck them both inside their brand-new Palm Coast house during an afternoon storm. The family had just moved into the Flagler County home and was preparing to start a new chapter, according to Gonzalez.
Gonzalez told WKMG that she and Oakley were struck while she was alone with the baby in the house she shares with her husband, Preston. The couple had just purchased the home, and Gonzalez said they were about to begin settling into it when the strike happened.
How Lightning Reaches Inside a House
Cases like this are more common than many homeowners realize. Roughly one-third of all lightning strike injuries in the United States happen indoors, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The agency's safety guidance explains that indoor injuries typically occur when electrical current travels through a home's plumbing, wiring, grounded metal framing, or connected appliances rather than through a direct hit on a person.
The National Weather Service notes that even homes equipped with exterior lightning rods aren't fully protected, since those rods only redirect direct structural hits. Internal surge protection and bonded grounding systems are needed to keep dangerous electrical surges from traveling through indoor pipes and wiring once a strike occurs nearby.
Florida's Outsized Lightning Risk
The Palm Coast incident occurred in a state that leads the nation in lightning activity. Florida recorded the highest lightning strike density of any state in the country in 2025, with 305 lightning events per square mile, according to weather tracking firm Vaisala Xweather's 2025 Annual Lightning Report. Nationwide, Vaisala detected 252 million total lightning strikes in 2025, an eight-year high and a 20% jump from the previous year.
Central Florida in particular sees some of the most intense storm activity in the country. FOX 35 Orlando reported that Florida recorded three lightning fatalities in 2025, the highest total of any state, while nearby Seminole County ranked first nationwide in local lightning density at 258 strikes per square kilometer. WUFT News has reported that the region's frequent afternoon storms are driven by sea-breeze fronts from the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic Ocean colliding over the heated peninsula each summer.
Survival Odds Remain High
Despite the danger, most lightning strike victims survive. CDC records show 517 lightning-related fatalities occurred in the United States between 2006 and 2025, with roughly 90% of all strike victims surviving their injuries. A 2023 systematic research review published through University of California eScholarship similarly found that while indoor lightning injuries can occur through conductive infrastructure like plumbing and wiring, fatalities inside modern enclosed buildings remain extremely rare.
It remains unclear exactly what pathway the lightning followed to reach Gonzalez and her daughter inside their Palm Coast home, whether through plumbing, an electrical outlet, or another grounded structure, and what medical treatment the two required afterward. Those details had not been reported as of publication.
