Panic spread through a Florida neighborhood as witnesses frantically called police after a lightning strike killed a young mother and one of her two-year-old twin daughters.
Kenya Glasgow, 31, was walking in Margate, a city near Fort Lauderdale, on August 23 with her toddler daughter Kennedi when a fast-moving thunderstorm swept into the area.
The pair were hit shortly before 2.30pm near 7941 Northwest 1st Street, where a nearby resident discovered them on the sidewalk and immediately dialed 911, police previously told Our News Outlet.
Newly released dispatch audio captured the chaos and terror in the moments after the deadly Margate lightning strike, with at least one woman heard screaming for help.
‘Oh my God, somebody just got struck by lightning!’ one caller cried in the recording obtained by NBC South Florida.
Another person told dispatchers that ‘a lady and her baby’ had been struck and were lying on the ground, while a third caller tried to describe the frightening scene unfolding outside.
‘I heard somebody yelling and I jumped up,’ the woman told emergency operators, explaining that she saw a woman and a baby on the ground as heavy lightning continued to crackle through the storm.
The caller added that people nearby were overwhelmed and distraught, telling dispatchers the victims remained on the ground as neighbors struggled to process what had just happened.
Kameron, Kenya, Kennedi, and Kensli Glasgow are pictured in a family photo. The family had just arrived at his aunt’s house that afternoon when the weather took a turn for the worst on August 23
Kameron and Kenya are pictured. The grief-stricken husband was just feet away from his wife and their daughter, Kennedi, when they were tragically struck down in Margate, Florida at around 2.30pm
Officers from the Margate Police Department then responded along with Margate Fire Rescue and immediately began attempting CPR on the mother and child, but they were pronounced dead at a local hospital
‘Oh my God, please, God, Jesus, please, protect this family, give them the strength,’ the caller then prayed.
Officers from the Margate Police Department then responded along with Margate Fire Rescue and immediately began attempting CPR on the mother and child.
When their efforts were unsuccessful, Kenya was rushed to North Broward Medical Center, while Kennedi was taken to Broward Health Medical Center.
‘Tragically, despite the life-saving efforts of first responders and medical personnel, both victims were pronounced deceased shortly after arriving at the hospitals,’ police said.
Following the tragedy, Kenya’s widower husband Kameron Glasgow lamented their horrific luck, saying the odds of being struck by lightning were ‘1 in 1.2 million.’
‘S*** can’t be real,’ the grieving father said.
He later explained that the family had just arrived at his aunt’s house that afternoon when the weather took a turn for the worse, and he and Kenya tried to rush Kennedi and her twin sister, Kensli, inside the house.
‘I was right there. I got the actual aftershock from the ground,’ Kameron said, describing it as ‘the worst feeling in the world.’
‘And to turn around and see your wife and daughter there, lifeless, even worse,’ he said at a news conference.
Toddler Kensli must now grow up without her twin sister, Kennedi, who was fatally struck
Kensli was still inside the vehicle at the time.
She must now live the rest of her life without her ‘best friend,’ Kameron said on social media, as he lives without his own ‘best friend,’ his wife.
‘After I lost my father a few years ago, I learned a very valuable lesson and that’s to never question God,’ he noted.
‘My babies didn’t suffer. I’m hurt we are hurt but if you gotten the chance to feel that beautiful light my wife and daughter brought into your life cherish it.
‘It’s there for a reason. It gives us all the blueprint to just love others and always remember it doesn’t take much to be kind.’
Thunderstorms are frequent in southern Florida, especially through the summer rainy season from June through September, though lightning rarely claims lives.
Margate residents told NBC6 the fatal storm on Sunday unfolded like a regular rainstorm until a lightning strike hit so close to their homes that their furniture shook.
The father broke down in tears as he spoke to reporters about the tragedy
One of the men who called 911 then said he saw Kenya and her daughter had burn marks on their bodies, and they were emanating smoke.
‘I told one of the family members we need to slip her over to perform CPR, but she had two holes in her chest, and thank God the ambulance was coming down the street,’ he recalled.
‘I said, “They’re here, they’re here,” and I directed him to the baby, and they took the baby right away and a second ambulance came for the mother,’ the man said.
Prince Moody, Glasgow’s neighbor, also spoke to CBS News Miami about how he rushed his own family inside the home when he heard roaring thunder and saw an orange flash in the sky.
‘My son said to me, “Hey, Dad. I think somebody got hit. There’s a lady on the floor,”‘ Moody told the outlet.
‘And I’m like, “What? No way. Stop, man.” And he said, “No, look.”‘
When Moody peeked outside the window, he saw a lifeless body on the ground.
The neighbor added that he rushed across the street to try and help the family, but it was too late.
‘As I get closer, there’s also a toddler lying a couple of feet from the mother,’ Moody said, describing the scene as ‘charred.’
‘It’s a scene that I never want to see again,’ he added.
