US: 3 killed in lightning strike near White House
Aug 06, 2022
Washington [US], August 6 :Three people are dead and one injured following a lightning strike across the street from the White House on Thursday night, according to local media reports.
The lightning hit Lafayette Square, just north of the White House leaving four people critically injured. Among the victims are two adult males and two adult females.
James Mueller, 76, and Donna Mueller, 75, died from injuries following the strike, a DC Metropolitan Police spokesperson confirmed, and CNN reported. The couple was reportedly visiting from Wisconsin.
Further, on Friday afternoon, police said a 29-year-old man died from his injuries. His name is being withheld pending family notification.
The condition of the other person who was injured has not been released, CNN reported.
Numerous storms, containing frequent lightning, had reportedly flared up in the region Thursday evening after the temperature soared into the mid-to-upper 90s earlier in the day, prompting a heat advisory. Heat indexes, a measure of how hot it feels factoring in humidity, reached 100 to 110 degrees.
Notably, the three victims killed were the 10th, 11th, and 12th individuals to die in the United States this year as a result of lightning strikes, according to John Jensenius, a specialist with the National Lightning Safety Council, and as reported by CNN,
According to data from the previous 10 years, the US has seen 16 lightning-related fatalities annually as of August 4th, Jensenius added. He said that the deaths this week were the first in Washington since May 17, 1991, when lightning hit a tree at a lacrosse game, killing one person and injuring 10, CNN reported.
