In New Jersey, there have been 13 deaths by lightning since 2006. Watch video
Death by lightning strike is rare.
It's extremely rare in New Jersey, where a death by lightning has not occurred in nearly four years. But from 2006 to 2012, a total of 13 people lost their lives in the state after being struck by lightning.
According to the National Weather Service, there have been five lightning deaths in the United States so far in 2016 -- two in Florida, two in Louisiana and one in Mississippi.
Most, but not all, of the deaths in New Jersey occur between June and August -- considered peak lightning season, according to the National Weather Service.
In the Garden State, lightning can strike just about anywhere, anytime and under any circumstance.
As that peak season approaches, weather experts encourage awareness of the powers of Mother Nature.
Here is a look at those killed by lightning in the Garden State in the past 10 years:
13. Death of a daredevil
Holmdel resident Allen Emer in September 2001. (Photo courtesy of Sean Emer) Balloonist Allen Emer, 59, died June 24, 2006 after lightning struck as he slept in a hammock in Round Valley State Park in the Lebanon section of Clinton Township. "Lightning struck a tree where the hammock was attached," Emer's son, Sean, told NJ Advance Media. Emer, a Holmdel resident, was a daring balloonist who stood atop his balloon after the terror attacks of Sept. 11, 2001 and waved a U.S. flag. At the time of his death, Emer was on a kayacking trip. "We've always thought that given the nature of what he did, this was a fitting way for him to go out," his son said.
11 & 12. Lightning strikes a soccer field
They were two friends from Bergen County home from college playing a game of pickup soccer at an elementary school in Montvale when lightning struck on July 22, 2006. Lee Weisbrod, 19, of River Vale and Steve Fagan, 18, of Woodcliff Lake began walking off the field with other players when witnesses heard a second thunderclap and saw Weisbrod and Fagan thrown into the air. The men died later that night at Pascack Valley Hospital in Westwood of severe burns and trauma. The deaths prompted Bergen County to invest in lightning detection systems for its athletic fields.10. Matron of honor killed at rehearsal dinner
Cindy Osler of Howell had planned every detail of her best friend's wedding. At a rehearsal dinner on Friday, Aug. 17, 2007 - the eve of the wedding - the skies turned dark above The Ivy League restaurant on Route 9. Osler and the best man went outside to make sure their car windows were rolled up. That's when a bolt of lightning struck. "Everybody was so happy, and then it became a nightmare," Dave Tarnowski, the best man, told The Star-Ledger. Tarnowski, who had been knocked to his knees by a lightning blast that tore through the asphalt, found Osler on the ground. Paramedics were unable to revive her and she was pronounced dead at a hospital in Freehold.
9. Death in a fishing boat
Tony Gardner of West Milford was on his boat fishing when a thunderstorm swept through Upper Greenwood Lake about 10 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 8, 2007. Gardner, 47, was killed instantly when lightning struck. Police found him the next morning about 10 feet from shore, his body leaning against the boat's windshield and a fishing pole rested in a holder on the side of the boat. Gardner was the third person struck by lightning in New Jersey while boating that weekend. He was the only fatality.
8. Electrical storm takes a life on the beach
Sandy Hook after Pablo Garcia was hit by lightning. (Joe Epstein/The Star-Ledger) Pablo Garcia of Elizabeth was with friends on the southern end of Sandy Hook on July 27, 2008 when an electrical storm kicked up. Garcia, 38, and two of his friends were hit. The companions survived; Garcia did not. According to news reports, the lightning was contained in a series of strong, fast-moving thunderstorms that socked the state with heavy rains and damaging winds, dropping nickel-sized hail in Camden, Cape May, Gloucester and Monmouth counties.
7. Struck seeking shelter
A tree in Hamilton Township sits uprooted after heavy storms moved throughout the state on Sunday, July 26, 2009. (Michael Mancuso | Trenton Times) Four cousins in Newark who sought refuge from a lightning storm traveling through New Jersey were struck by lightning in a wooded area behind apartments on Mount Vernon Place shortly after 6 p.m. on Sunday, July 26, 2009. Isaac Coello-Pineda, 22, of Newark, was killed. The lightning strikes were part of a severe storm that brought quarter-sized hail, funnel clouds and winds as fast 75 mph to parts of the state.
6. Hit by lightning while watching a fire ignited by lightning
Anthony Forte (File photo) When lightning struck a house in Middletown on July 19, 2010, Anthony Forte - who was walking home from church - stopped with a small group of spectators to watch the fire. Moments later, lightning struck a tree that Forte was touching. Family members said at the time they believed the lightning may have been attracted to a leg brace that the 49-year-old Forte was wearing. A police officer and another bystander were treated and released after they were injured by the lightning. Six people in the home escaped the blaze, which started in the attic.
5. Lightning kills man 48 years after his father was struck
When Stephen M. Rooney was age 5, his father was struck and killed by lightning. So when a thunderstorm kicked up during a family picnic in Hammonton on July 3, 2011, Rooney wasn't afraid. "Don't worry guys - you're with me. Lightning doesn't strike twice in the same family," he said. Moments later, he was struck by lightning. He died five days later.
4. Lightning strikes Atlantic City construction workers
Concrete worker Bryan Bradley, a husband and father from Linwood, was part of a three-man crew working on the fifth-floor roof deck of the Revel casino and hotel on Sept. 15, 2011 when a fast-moving storm swirled overhead. Lightning struck the basket of a cement pourer while Bradley was holding the handle, according to news reports. He died a short time after being struck. The two other workers were injured. In 2012, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration fined Network Construction for violating federal regulations that say once a local storm warning has been issued, a person in charge must determine if equipment must be secured. Bradley's wife, Carmen, filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the company.
3. Death by lightning on the Jersey Shore
Lightning strikes the water near Monmouth Beach in 2013. (File photo) Indira Tursunova, 48, left her hometown New City, N.Y., for a brief vacation at the Jersey Shore. Like millions of others, she was seeking relief from temperatures of reaching more than 100 degrees in recent days. Family members reported Tursunova was walking along a sea wall at Monmouth Beach when she was struck by lightning at 7:41 p.m. on Saturday, July 7, 2012. Two police officers, an off-duty Long Branch EMT and an off-duty employee from Jersey Central Power & Light tried to aid the woman. She died at a hospital about 6 a.m. the next morning.
2. Lightning strike while fishing
Everyone who knew Sebastian Castillo knew how much he loved fishing. The 41-year-old hospital aide from Bergen County was with his 10-year-old son when he was hit by a lightning bolt on Aug. 15, 2012 at Lake Takanasee Beach in Long Branch. His son ran for help. Castillo was taken to a nearby hospital, where he died the next day.
1. Killed watching grandson play soccer
(Star-Ledger file photo) Haworth resident Viktor Ovsyankin, 71, was at Northern Valley High School on Friday, Sept. 7, 2012 in Demarest watching his grandson - a freshman at the school - play soccer. Suddenly, lightning struck two trees around the ball fields. Ovsyankin had been standing near one of the trees. He was taken to Hackensack University Medical Center where he died four hours later. As of this writing, Ovsyankin was the last person to die of a lightning strike in New Jersey. His death and two others in 2012, prompted some communities to research lightning detection systems and other methods of keeping people safe. In East Rutherford, the borough council considered a law that would allow local police to ticket anyone defying an order to leave athletic fields during a storm.