Florida roofer killed by lightning strike, found with sock melted onto foot

A roofer in Florida was struck by lightning while he was on the job on Monday. The shock of the lightning was so severe that his sock melted to his foot.

Edvin Cinto, 24, was working on a roof at a home on Sterling Point Drive in Deltona at around 2 p.m. on Monday when the lightning suddenly struck him in front of his coworkers. The lightning caused him to fall to the concrete below, according to witnesses. People nearby called 911 to report the incident. 

“Someone has fallen from the roof and I think he’s unconscious,” one caller told the police, according to WKMG. “They’re saying he was struck by lightning.”

First responders said Cinto smelled like burnt hair, said the Volusia County Sheriff’s Office. More shockingly, however, was the fact that one of Cinto’s socks had melted to his foot. 

Cinto died on the way to a local hospital. 

“He was a fine guy, dedicated to his job and just a good boy,” Cinto’s cousin Cesario Cinto told WKMG. “Everyone should stop working because it’s dangerous to work when it’s lightning.”

Curious enough, however, the day that Cinto got struck by lightning, it wasn’t raining. Lightning can strike places up to 15 miles ahead of a storm.

“Terrible things do happen to good people, so don’t take any chances with your life or your family,” said Volusia County Emergency Services Director Jim Judge. “You just never know where it’s going to strike.”

Cinto was originally from Guatemala. His relatives are trying to raise enough money to send his body back to his homeland for a proper burial. 

Cinto’s death is the fourth fatal lightning strike so far this year in the country, which averages three lightning fatalities a year, according to the National Lightning Safety Council.