Rohan Mascarenhas
The Star-Ledger
NEWARK, N.J. — The four men struck by lightning in Newark Sunday, one fatally, were cousins, authorities said.
Detective Todd McClendon identified the man killed as Isaac Coello-Pineda, 22, of Newark. The others, listed in stable condition at University Hospital, were city residents Hermon Delgado, 28; Elmer Delgado, 20, and Naun Delgado, whose age was unavailable yesterday.
The group sought refuge in a wooded area behind an apartment complex on Mount Vernon Place when lightning hit shortly after 6 p.m., McClendon said.
The trees were near a trail often used as a shortcut through the Ivy Hill Park Apartments, residents said.
The lightning strikes came during severe storms Sunday that brought hail the size of quarters, funnel clouds and winds as fast as 75 mph to parts of the state.
“There were many reports of large trees coming down,” said Kristin Kline, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service. “I spoke with someone earlier today who said a roof was blown off her barn.”
Kline said more thunderstorms are expected through the week, but they may not be as powerful as Sunday’s.
The storm also caused havoc in Somerset and Hunterdon counties by cutting power, uprooting trees and scattering debris across roadways and in Pittstown and in Milford.
In Bedminster and Bridgewater, the storm uprooted a number of trees and downed power lines, closing Route 202-206 for several hours.
Although some Hunterdon County residents reported seeing funnel clouds, the National Weather Service said it was a straight-line windstorm that ripped through the area, not a twister.
In Readington, 10 people attending the Quick Chek Balloon Fest were slightly injured, most sustaining scraped knees from falling while running to take shelter from the rain, police said.
In Union County, an outdoor food and wine festival in Summit was disrupted by the storm, and in Springfield, residents reported that hail damaged several cars.
Lightning strikes, while rare, can inflict heavy, long-term damage because of their electricity, experts said.
“The electricity generates a lot of heat,” said Hani Mansour of the Saint Barnabas Medical Center in Livingston. “It conducts through the nerves, and it’s sort of like when you have a short circuit.”
Mansour said victims typically suffer severe burns, as well as other long-term symptoms like memory loss.
“It’s a pretty devastating injury, usually,” he said.
Since starting work at the hospital in 1981, Mansour said his staff usually encounters two lightning-strike patients a year. The severity of their injuries often hinge on chance factors, like the amount of metal in their clothes when they were hit.
“One day, we had an officer who was hit on the badge of his hat and he had a big burn on his scalp,” Mansour said.
He advised people to retreat indoors during a storm and avoid trees, which can attract lightning due to their height.
“You want to avoid being the highest object on a plain field,” he said.
Lightning, however, can still strike houses. In Franklin Township, residents in 12 apartments were forced from their homes after lightning set the units ablaze Sunday night, fire officials said.
Firefighters responded to Fisher Drive around 10:30 p.m. to quell the flames that caused severe fire, smoke, and water damage, township Fire Inspector Erik Mickelsen said.
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