More storms hit the area on Tuesday, bringing with it lightning, rain and heavy winds.
A severe thunderstorm watch was in effect for most of the area until 1 a.m. The entire area was under the watch aside from Atlantic, Burlington, Northampton counties and the Poconos, according to NBC10 meteorologist Sheena Parveen. A severe thunderstorm warning was issued for Lancaster, Berks and Lehigh Counties until 10:15 p.m. A severe thunderstorm warning was also issued for Chester, Montgomery, Lehigh and Upper Bucks Counties until 11 p.m.
The strong line of storms moved into the area around 9:30 p.m. with damaging winds of up to 60 miles per hour.
Earlier storms brought down several trees throughout the area.
In Center City a tree fell down on wires at Pine and Taney Streets late Tuesday afternoon, causing several power outages.
The wind also uprooted a tree on Evergreen Avenue in Gibbstown, which landed in a driveway, damaging several parked cars in its path. Only a few miles away on Democrat Road, a tree hit a truck with the driver inside. Fortunately the tree only hit the hood of the truck and not the cab.
In Delaware County, lightning struck and split a 175-year-old tree on the Swarthmore College campus.
Firefighters are also investigating whether an incident in which a television exploded and injured a young girl in Hatfield was caused by a lightning strike.
A heat advisory is also in effect for the Philadelphia area on Wednesday followed by another round of storms in the afternoon. Residents are warned to stay hydrated and avoid being outside during the middle of the day.
On Monday, violent storms also ripped through the area, causing power outages and plenty of damage.
In Delaware County, lightning struck a school baseball field, injuring a worker.
The victim was tending to the field at the Glen Mills School around 2 p.m. when thunderstorms that were producing a lot of lightning rolled through.
The man told paramedics that he felt the effects of the lightning strike. He was briefly knocked unconscious, according to Edwin Truitt, the director of school's emergency services department.
The man was able to walk to the ambulance on his own and taken to Crozer-Chester Medical center for evaluation.
The boys-only, residential school for juvenile delinquents, is located at 185 Glen Mills Road in Glen Mills, Delaware County, Pennsylvania.
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"There is a lot of lightning in the thunderstorms building now," said NBC10 Chief Meteorologist Glenn "Hurricane" Schwartz.
From 2 to 2:30 p.m. on Monday there were over 1,000 lightning strikes generated from the storm, which moved from Delaware County into Philadelphia. A Severe Thunderstorm Watch was issued for the entire viewing area. A Severe Thunderstorm Warning was also issued for Delaware County, Philadelphia and northeastern New Castle County. Both the watch and the warning were canceled for the entire area shortly after 8:30. Another severe thunderstorm warning was then issued for Burlington and Ocean Counties. It expired at 10 p.m.
During the storm, a tree fell on top of power lines while a car hit a pole around 2:15 p.m. in the Glen Mills area. The storm generated high winds and heavy rain which knocked trees to the ground in Wilmington, exposing the roots.
Lightning also struck a home on the 300 block of Lindsay Street in Ridley Park, NJ late Monday afternoon, causing a fire. While the home was damaged, no one was injured.
"I was blowing up a pool out in the backyard," said the homeowner, Jeff Dugan. "Twenty minutes later I'm standing in front of the house with the fire company."
Dugan says the lightning strike sparked a fire inside the basement.
"I ran down the basement real quick," he said. "My oldest son was with me. I saw the glow of the smoke and the fire and it was time to go. Everything happened pretty quickly."
Only a few blocks away from Dugan's home, a bolt also struck a utility pole on Ridley Avenue.
A tree on the border between West Chester and Coatesville, Pa. near the Broad Run Golf Course was also struck.
Summer is the peak season for lightning strikes, according to the National Weather Service. And coincidentally, this is the organization's Lightning Safety Week.
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"It's hot and humid in the summertime and so you tend to get more thunderstorms that form, and consequently more lightning," said NBC10 Meteorologist Sheena Parveen.
The government tracks the number of lightning deaths each year. So far, for 2013, seven people have been struck and killed by lighting: Two in Florida, two in Illinois, one person in Texas, another in Louisiana and the seventh in Missouri. The victims are four women and three men. All of the men were out in fishing boats on the water when they were struck. In the other four cases, one woman was in the front yard under trees, another in a park, another on the beach and the fourth woman was standing outside a restaurant in Texas when she was killed by lightning.
Last year, lightning killed 28 people across the country. One of the victims was a NASCAR fan who was struck by lighting outside the Pocono Raceway. Brian Zimmerman, 41, was killed when the first of at least two lightning bolts hit inside the Grandstand Parking lot. Eight other people were injured.
Check back for updates on this developing story.
