Teen, farmer killed by lightning as rains pelt island
Published:Thursday | September 10, 2020 | 12:15 AM
Tragedy rocked the rural district of Keynsham, St Elizabeth, yesterday after a lightning strike killed a teenager and a farmer under an avocado tree.
Senior Superintendent of Police Stephanie Lindsay confirmed that 14-year-old Ricardo Fisher and 30-year-old farmer Sheldon Cain are the victims.
Cain, who is from Mineral Heights in the neighbouring parish of Clarendon, was visiting relatives in the rural community.
The Gleaner understands that the two were in the process of picking fruit when tragedy struck.
The police are continuing their investigation into the incident.
Yesterday, heavy rains and thunderstorms pelted sections of the island, resulting in flooding in some sections and up to 30mm of rainfall recorded in some places.
Major thoroughfares in Kingston, St Andrew, St Catherine, and St Elizabeth were flooded by the afternoon showers.
The Gleaner understands, too, that lightning struck a weather station in Malvern, St Elizabeth.
While fair weather is expected this morning, the Met Office has advised that widely scattered showers and isolated thunderstorms could take place in northern and southwestern parishes while other sections of the island will be partly cloudy.