Girl, 13, critically injured by lightning strike in Chicago
A 13-year-old girl was critically injured when she was struck by lightning in Chicago Wednesday afternoon as thunderstorms rolled through the region.
The city's fire department was called to Garfield Park Conservatory on North Central Avenue around 1 p.m. after receiving a report of a girl struck by lightning while at the park with a woman and another girl, department spokesperson Larry Merritt told WLS-TV/ABC7 in Chicago.
The girl was taken to Stroger Hospital in critical condition, according to Merritt.
The severe weather system that moved into the Chicago area prompted several thunderstorm warnings from the National Weather Service around the time that the girl was struck.
Daniel Jackson and his teenage stepson Jordan Garrett were very close to where the lightning hit, telling WLS that they were shaken up over the incident.
"We could just see the sparks from back there and then we just heard screaming," Garrett said. "We just heard screams. I didn't know if somebody got hit or not until (paramedics) came out with her."
Jackson said he thought the lightning bolt hit a tree.
"But when we saw the ambulance and the fire department pull up, we knew somebody had been struck ... I feel for the parents," said Jackson, who was closing up his Destiny Water Ice Co. shop with his stepson.
The girl was lying in a field and staffers from the conservatory were performing CPR until the paramedics arrived and took over, the Chicago Tribune reported. About a half-hour later, they brought her to the ambulance.
On Thursday, the girl's family told WLS the teenager is doing OK and is recovering, but the extent of her injuries remain unclear.
More storms rolled through the Midwest overnight, with downpours deluging the St. Louis area as well as parts of Michigan, where about 150,000 Michigan customers were without power Thursday.
On Tuesday, a 22-year-old man died when lightning struck his tent while he was camping near Enos Lake in the Bridger-Teton National Forest in Wyoming. His identity has not been released. Another person was reportedly injured in the incident. The fatality was the first one in the state of Wyoming in more than 12 year since July 11, 2010, according to the National Lightning Safety Council.
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