Lightning kills 1 soldier in Georgia, injures 9
Georgia is leading the country in lightning fatalities so far in 2022, and, as a nation, the U.S. is pacing at about 50% of the average for lighting fatalities a little more than halfway through the year.
One soldier was killed and nine others injured after a lightning strike at Fort Gordon, a U.S. Army base outside of Augusta, Georgia, on July 20, 2022.
Georgia now leads the country in lightning fatalities after a strike at Fort Gordon, located near the city of Augusta, killed an Army Reserve soldier on Wednesday and injured nine others.
"It is with a heavy heart Fort Gordon confirms one of the soldiers injured in the lightning strike this afternoon succumbed to their injuries," base spokesperson Anne Bowman told ABC News.
According to Bowman, the strike happened around 11:10 a.m. when a group of soldiers "sustained injuries associated with a lightning strike at one of their training areas."
The identities and the condition of the nine injured were not disclosed. Bowman said they were taken to an on-base medical facility for treatment.
The fatal strike at Fort Gordon is the second one in Georgia this year and the 18th since 2006. (National Lightning Safety Council)
Based on data from 2012 to 2021, the U.S. averages 13 lightning deaths by July 20. By the end of the year, that number typically rises to around 23, according to John Jensenius, a lightning safety specialist with the National Lightning Safety Council. So far, there have been only seven reported lightning deaths in 2022, and two of them have occurred in Georgia.
The last fatal strike in Georgia was on July 2 when 39-year-old Felipe Flores was struck while loading tools into his van in Mountain City, located in northeastern Georgia. Before that, on June 12, 2021, a 15-year-old girl identified as Maiah Mitchell died after being struck on Tybee Island near Savannah.
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