Man killed, woman injured by lightning strike in Virginia

CAPE CHARLES, Va. - Lightning struck two people in Cape Charles, Virginia, Thursday, leaving a man dead and a woman injured, according to FOX Weather. 

What we know:

The incident, reported around 3:40 p.m., happened as severe storms moved through the region, later sparking weather alerts for parts of Maryland, D.C. and Northern Virginia. 

According to Cape Charles officials, a Colorado man died despite efforts to revive him. A woman who was also struck by lightning was taken to a hospital. 

According to data from the National Weather Service, nine people have died from lightning strikes across the country in 2026, not including the recent Virginia incident. Data shows that seven of those deaths occurred in July across seven different states. In two of those cases, the victims were hiking near summits at the time they were struck. 

Seventy-eight people have died from lightning strikes in the past five years in the U.S., according to NWS data. 

Dig deeper:

A similar incident in D.C. left three people dead near the White House in August 2022. High school sweethearts James (76) and Donna Mueller (75) of Wisconsin, and 29-year-old Brooks Lambertson of Los Angeles, California, died after being struck by lightning in Lafayette Park. 

A fourth person, Amber Escudero-Kontostathis, 28, the sole survivor of the incident, was left in critical condition after the lightning strike. She later told FOX 5 DC that she was headed to dinner to celebrate her 28th birthday on the day she was struck. 

READ MORE | Sole survivor of lightning strike outside White House speaks out

While Escudero-Kontostathis said she did not remember everything about the incident, she did share that her heart stopped more than once. Two traveling ER nurses and a Secret Service member took turns doing CPR on her, reviving her twice. 

VirginiaNews