A couple in their 70s celebrating their anniversary and a 29 year-old man have died after a lightning strike near the White House during a storm Thursday evening, authorities said. One other person is hospitalized with life-threatening injuries.
with a trip to the nation's capital when they died, said Michelle McNett, the couple's niece. She remembered them as high school sweethearts who loved to dance and host gatherings for their close-knit family.
Donna was a retired teacher who worked part-time at a Janesville furniture store while Jim owned a drywall business, McNett said. They had five children, 10 grandchildren and four great-grandchildren.There have been nine other lightning fatalities in the U.S. this year, John Jensenius, lightning safety specialist for the National Lightning Safety Council, said in an email to reporters.
The incident is the first lightning fatality in Washington, D.C. since 1991 when one person was killed and 10 others were injured while they sheltered near a tree at a lacrosse game, he said. Jensenius said people should find a safe place to shelter, such as a building, any time a thunderstorm is in their area. Sheltering under a tree can prove dangerous because "lightning tends to strike the tallest object in the immediate area, which is often a tree."
Contributing: Jeanine Santucci, USA TODAY; Steven Martinez and Joe Taschler, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel; The Associated Press
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