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NEW YORK \u2014 Thursday, June 19, 2025 \u2014 A 15-year-old<\/strong> was struck by lightning<\/strong> during a severe thunderstorm<\/strong> that swept across Manhattan<\/strong> on Wednesday afternoon<\/strong>. The incident occurred around 3:30 p.m.<\/strong> along the East Drive<\/strong> in Central Park<\/strong>, near East 100th Street<\/strong>, according to the FDNY<\/strong>.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Authorities<\/strong> say the boy was found conscious<\/strong>, leaning against a metal fence<\/strong> after being hit. He had reportedly been standing beneath a tree<\/strong> when both he and the tree were hit by the same bolt of lightning<\/strong>.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The teen was quickly transported to Columbia University Irving Medical Center<\/strong>, where he is now reported to be in stable condition<\/strong>. Police confirmed he suffered neck injuries<\/strong> from the strike.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The incident happened just as New York City<\/strong> was placed under a severe thunderstorm warning<\/strong>, with powerful weather systems<\/strong> barreling through the Tri-State Area<\/strong>. The First Alert Weather Team<\/strong> had declared Thursday<\/strong> a First Alert Weather Day<\/strong>, signaling heightened storm activity and potential danger from lightning<\/strong>, strong winds<\/strong>, and flooding<\/strong>.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n According to the National Weather Service<\/strong>, lightning strikes<\/strong> in the United States<\/strong> claim an average of 20 lives annually<\/strong> and cause injuries to hundreds more<\/strong>.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The sudden storm caught many residents off guard<\/strong>, particularly in Manhattan<\/strong>, Brooklyn<\/strong>, and Queens<\/strong>, where torrential rain left streets flooded<\/strong> and tree limbs scattered<\/strong> across sidewalks and cars.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n In Maspeth<\/strong>, a neighborhood in Queens<\/strong>, residents awoke to scenes of destruction. Jose Rosas<\/strong>, returning home from work, found a tree collapsed onto his mother\u2019s car<\/strong>. Throughout the area, sidewalks were littered<\/strong> with uprooted trees<\/strong>, one of which smashed the back window<\/strong> of a parked vehicle. Nearby, a utility pole had also been knocked over<\/strong> by strong winds.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Witnesses described the storm as fast and violent. Konrad Turnbull<\/strong>, a local resident, recalled, “The lights started flickering like in a horror movie, and then a tree branch came crashing down, ripping the roots out and smashing a truck outside our window.”<\/em> Turnbull, who works remotely, said his building eventually lost power<\/strong>. “It\u2019s probably going to take a few days. We\u2019ll need to work from somewhere else,”<\/em> he said.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n As of this morning, cleanup efforts<\/strong> are underway across the affected boroughs. Emergency services remain on alert as unstable air masses<\/strong> and lingering moisture<\/strong> continue to threaten new storm development<\/strong>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" NEW YORK \u2014 Thursday, June 19, 2025 \u2014 A 15-year-old was struck by lightning during a severe thunderstorm that swept across Manhattan on Wednesday afternoon. The incident occurred around 3:30 p.m. along the East Drive in Central Park, near East 100th Street, according to the FDNY. Authorities say the boy was found conscious, leaning […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":17,"featured_media":4558,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4557","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\n