Manhattan Beach residents got an earful - and an eyeful - with thunder and lightning that rolled through town on Monday afternoon and evening.

A few brave residents captured dramatic images of lightning over the ocean. (See image above from Pete Halvorsen and in the photo gallery below from Halvorsen, Howie Schecter, and Jake Scheinberg.)

All told, the National Weather Service reported 171 cloud-to-ground lightning counts for L.A. County on Monday.

Despite the noisy light show, the rain was brief and short-lived. Most areas in L.A. County received less than a tenth of an inch of rain, according to the National Weather Service.

At the closest recording spot to Manhattan Beach, LAX received just 0.03 inches of rain.

However, the storm caused the Los Angeles County Lifeguards to shut down all county beaches from San Pedro to Malibu, including Avalon and Catalina, on Monday afternoon. 

As of Tuesday morning, beaches are once again open. The water quality at all beaches in Manhattan Beach is currently at the "green light" level, meaning it is within acceptable standards.