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A 20-Year-Old Who Had Just Begun the Disney College Program Was Killed by Lightning in Celebration
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A 20-Year-Old Who Had Just Begun the Disney College Program Was Killed by Lightning in Celebration

Michael Travels
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A 20-year-old who had moved to Central Florida to start the Disney College Program was killed by a lightning strike in Celebration on the evening of Tuesday, September 8.

The Osceola County Sheriff's Office identified him as Matthew Eric Jenkins of Shelby Township, Michigan. WFTV reports that deputies "responded around 6:25 p.m. on Sept. 8 to the area behind a hotel at 700 Bloom St. after receiving a call about an unresponsive man," and that they identified him on Wednesday "after working with federal law enforcement authorities." He was taken "to AdventHealth Celebration, where he was pronounced dead." Bystanders had tried to perform CPR.

WKMG reports the medical examiner's findings: "The medical examiner has since confirmed Jenkins died from electrocution by a lightning strike. His manner of death has been ruled accidental."

What Disney said

A Disney spokesperson gave a statement to WKMG:

"We are deeply saddened by the passing of Matthew. He had just begun his Disney College Program journey, and will always be remembered as part of our Disney community. Our hearts are with his family, friends and loved ones during this incredibly difficult time."

WKMG reports that his mother, Beth Jenkins, described the Walt Disney World internship in a statement as a dream. Blake Jahn, described by the station as one of Jenkins' best friends, met him on their cross country team in their first year of high school and stayed close for seven years. "He cared so deeply for everyone around him," Jahn told WKMG. Of Disney's statement, Jahn said, "I'm very happy that they did that for him."

Where this happened, and what he was doing

This did not happen at Walt Disney World. Celebration is an unincorporated community in Osceola County, a census designated place rather than an incorporated town, and although Disney developed it in the 1990s it is not part of the theme park property. No official source places the strike on Disney land. Bloom Street is in the Celebration downtown area, several miles from the parks.

He also does not appear to have been at work. Descriptions of what he was doing vary. FOX 35 reported that deputies said he was struck "while walking along the path," while Jahn told WKMG that Jenkins was out for a run. His father told WESH that his son ran cross country in high school, liked to run in Celebration and was training for the Chicago Marathon. No official source has described him as on duty, on a Disney organized activity, or in Disney housing. There is no indication of a workplace investigation.

A street level view of Market Street in downtown Celebration, Florida under a clear blue sky, with a teal three storey building and a Market Street Cafe blade sign at left, a row of cream and orange buildings with balconies, awnings and palm trees at right, cars parked along a brick paved roadway and a crosswalk in the foreground

Market Street in downtown Celebration, the Osceola County community where the strike happened. Photo: traveljunction, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

The weather that afternoon

The National Weather Service office in Melbourne had flagged the risk hours in advance. Its area forecast discussion issued at 3:00 p.m. Eastern that Tuesday, just under three and a half hours before deputies responded, warned that "the potential exists for frequent lightning strikes and strong wind gusts up to 50 mph."

The fatality is logged in an official NWS Local Storm Report, issued on the Thursday, which records the event at 6:25 p.m. on September 8 in Celebration and reads: "*** 1 FATAL *** [Delayed Report] A 20-year old man died after being struck by lightning while walking along a pathway near Bloom Street in Celebration, Florida." That report lists its source as broadcast media, so it is the weather service's record of the death rather than an independent finding by it.

No severe thunderstorm warning was in effect for Osceola County that afternoon. The Melbourne office's key messages named locally heavy rainfall as the main storm hazard for the week, with frequent lightning and gusty winds a secondary one.

Sources

Image credits: Market Street by traveljunction (www.traveljunction.com), licensed CC BY-SA 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons. It is a file photograph of Celebration and is not an image of this incident.

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