Boy, 13, Killed by Lightning While Baling Hay

Teen was struck dead by lightning Thursday while doing farm work

A 13-year-old boy was struck dead by lightning Thursday while baling hay with his father near his central Pennsylvania home, a county coroner said.

“The father said he felt tingling, and the hair on the back of his neck stood up,” Lancaster County Coroner Dr. Stephen Diamantoni told the Intelligencer Journal/Lancaster New Era. “He heard a loud clap and turned around to see his son on the ground.”

Emergency officials could not revive his son, Levi Lantz. He was pronounced dead at the scene in Sadsbury Township.

The lightning accompanied strong storms that moved across the state Thursday night, toppling trees and damaging homes from suburban Pittsburgh to the Pocono Mountains.

Officials blamed a fire in the attic of a home in Herminie in Westmoreland County on a lightning strike.

A home in Bullskin Township in Fayette County was also struck by lightning and the homeowner reported her two grandsons received a shock.

Also in Fayette County, a nearly 100-foot tree crashed down on a Franklin Township home. No one was inside.

A home in Strinestown in York County was damaged by high winds the ripped off part of the roof. The roof was also pulled off a home in Muncy Creek Township in Lycoming County.

Copyright AP - Associated Press
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