Indira Turnsunova, a 48-year-old New York resident was killed over the weekend when she was struck by lightning. The New City, New York resident was walking with her family in Monmouth beach on a sea wall at 7:41 Saturday night, when she was struck.
Turnsunova was hospitalized and died at 6:00 AM on Sunday, July 8th.
The New York City metropolitan area is considered to have "moderate" occurrence of lightning compared to other parts of the country. The Office of Emergency Management gives a horrifying history:
In August 2004, a college couple were killed when they stepped out of their car into a flooded roadway in College Point that had been electrified by a powerline downed by lightning.
In July 2004, lightning ignited a 6-alarm fire in a mattress factory in Bushwick.
In August 2002, a 25-year-old Manhattan man was killed, and a 24-year-old woman injured while watching an electrical storm from the roof of a four-story building on Broome Street in Chinatown.
In June 2000, a severe storm resulted in five injuries when lightning struck a tent set up on Old Fulton and Everett Streets in Brooklyn.
In August 1996, lightning struck the newly-constructed recreational pier at Tiffany Street in the South Bronx. The pier, which was constructed months earlier using material from recycled soda bottles, melted as a result.
In August 1994, seven people were struck and injured at Coney Island beach, including a young girl who suffered serious injuries.
In June 1994, a man was struck and killed and seven others injured when lightning struck at Neponsit Beach in Queens.
In 1977, a blackout caused by multiple lightning hits on a main transmission line north of the City plunged most of New York's neighborhoods into darkness for up to 25 hours.
Turnsunova's tragic death was not the only unfortuante occurrence of the extended Independence Day weekend in which many New Yorkers sought an escape from the over 100 degree weather. Three children died on a yacht which sunk in Oyster Bay on July 4th.