Mass strike

Lightning not only can strike twice; it also can strike many.

Last week, lightning struck Puerto Rico’s northern coastal town of Isabela injuring three children, ABC News reports. The victims, ages 7 to 12, were hospitalized with the eldest in serious condition.

When lightning struck a castle park in northern Czech Republic on 2 June, 18 people were hurt, the Xinhua news agency reported. Local media reported that the lightning hit a tree in the castle park at around 3:30 p.m. while a children’s day event was being held there.

In Jackson County, Colorado, United States, between the rural towns of Rand and Walden, lightning struck a ranch on 25 May.

There was one fatality, a 51-year-old rancher. Mike Morgan was feeding his cows in the mountain pasture when disaster hit.

Morgan left a wife and daughter who said “he was the absolute best husband and father we could have ever asked for. We were blessed for this short amount of time we were given with him,” according to CBS News.

The victim’s burial was this week, but other ranchers had to bury others struck by the lightning that same day.

Morgan was feeding 100 cows from his trailer when the lightning bolt struck on the wide wide-open pasture. The strike also bowled over the feeding cattle that had bunched around the trailer loaded with hay, said George Crocket, the county coroner.

“All but the 34 (cows) got up,” he said, according to CBS News, referring to the feeding bovines that died from electrocution.