12 taken to hospitals after lightning strike at South Carolina lake

LEXINGTON, S.C. (AP) — A dozen people were taken to hospitals Tuesday after a lightning strike at a South Carolina lake, officials said.

Emergency crews responded to Dominion Beach Park near the Lake Murray Dam and assessed 20 patients, including 12 children, Lexington County officials said in a news release. They treated 18 people on the scene and 12 of them went to hospitals, according to county spokesperson Vanessa Diaz. Their injuries were not considered life-threatening and all of the patients were expected to recover, officials said.

Dominion Beach Park was expected to reopen Wednesday following safety assessments and clearance from authorities.

The weather was sunny with some clouds nearby, but not overhead when the strike happened, the Irmo Fire District said in a social media post. Lightning hit the water as several people were holding on to or swimming near a metal cable and buoys that surround the swimming area, the agency said.

“Everybody got quite a jolt,” the fire agency said. “We’re so fortunate that injuries were not worse than they were.”

Injuries included minor burns, Irmo Fire District spokesperson Sloane Valentino said by telephone. Those who were holding on to the cable had the worst injuries, he said.

Meteorologist Matt Gropp with the National Weather Service in Columbia called it “a bolt from the blue,” noting that people at the lake may not have been aware of a pop-up thunderstorm a few miles to the south. It didn’t even rain at the lake, Gropp said.

“It was one of the first strikes of the storm and the people there weren’t expecting it,” he said.