A woman and her two dogs were killed by lightning in the Los Angeles area on Wednesday morning as a thunderstorm struck Southern California, officials said.
Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department spokesman Deputy Miguel Meza said 52-year-old Antonia Mendoza Chavez was struck by lightning in Pico Riviera at around 8:50 a.m.
There were no witnesses, but paramedics called to the scene determined that his injuries were caused by lightning, he said. Not even two dogs survived.
The National Weather Service said in a forecast discussion that Los Angeles and Ventura counties off the coast of California were receiving monsoon rain and thunderstorms on Wednesday.
Pico Rivera on Wednesday ordered city employees to work indoors because of the weather. The city government said in a statement that 3,700 lightning strikes were reported in Southern California. NBC Los Angeles reported,
There did not appear to be any other reports of lightning-related injuries from the storm in the Los Angeles area.
Cerritos College, a community college in Norwalk not far from the Pico Riviera, closed its campus on Wednesday after a power outage caused by a lightning strike. It said on its website that the campus would remain closed on Thursday.
In Long Beach, a city in the southern Los Angeles area, all beaches and waterways were closed on Wednesday following a “significant lightning strike within the breakwall,” the fire department said.
In Pasadena, firefighters responded to a palm tree fire related to electricity, the fire department said Wednesday morning Tweet In which it urged people to try to stay indoors.
According to the National Weather Service, about 20 people are killed by lightning in the United States each year.
From 2009 to 2021, lightning struck eight people across California, according to Weather Service records.
in the Los Angeles area, a 20 year old college student In 2014, he was killed by lightning on Venice Beach in July.
In 2009, 40 year old woman dies After lightning struck Fontana, east of Los Angeles, during a June storm.