Man killed by lightning while boating in Orleans
Rough weather hits region hard
A man was killed by a lightning strike yesterday while boating in Orleans, as fierce rainstorms battered New England yesterday.
Captain Chip Burge of the Orleans Fire Department said the man was killed while in his clam boat on Little Pleasant Bay.
The Fire Department received a boat rescue call around 5:35 p.m. and, along with the Orleans harbormaster, found the man dead, alone in his boat, just east of Sipson Island, according to Burge.
The man’s name and age were not released because next-of-kin had not been notified, said Cape and Islands District Attorney Michael O’Keefe.
The identity of the 66-year-old man who made the rescue call from a nearby boat and who was transported to Cape Cod Hospital with injuries that were not considered life-threatening, was also not being released, O’Keefe said. It was not clear last night how the caller was injured.
After finding the victim, the harbormaster towed his boat to the Portanimicut Road Landing, Burge said. Orleans police contacted State Police, who dispatched the Cape and Islands detective unit to investigate, Trooper Eric Benson said.
Other communities were also affected by weather yesterday.
Two house fires were ignited by lightning in Abington. The first, on Summer Street, was a small wall fire that was extinguished by the homeowner before the Fire Department arrived, said Captain David Farrell. The damage was estimated at $10,000 to $20,000, he said.
The second home, on Mill Street, was hit by a fire that was contained in the attic, with damage estimated between $40,000 and $50,000, Farrell said. No injuries were reported in either fire.
New Bedford and Fall River were hit the hardest during yesterday’s downpour, according to National Weather Service meteorologists. New Bedford recorded 1.5 inches of rainfall, and radar estimates indicated as much as 3 inches in Fall River, said Neal Strauss, Weather Service meteorologist.
Areas in the southeast part of the state and near the Rhode Island border also recorded high amounts of rainfall, including Plymouth, which peaked at 1.16 inches, said meteorologist Walter Drag of the Weather Service.
