June 01--A woman was hospitalized and two houses caught fire Saturday afternoon after three apparent lightning strikes in Ham Lake and Plymouth.
The Dayton, Minn., woman, 48, was at Ham Lake Lions Park with family members watching a child's baseball game when she was struck near a tree just before 3 p.m., according to a statement from the Anoka County sheriff's office.
She was unresponsive, and the sheriff's office said bystanders performed CPR. When deputies and paramedics arrived, they discovered she didn't have a pulse and wasn't breathing. Paramedics were able to resuscitate her on the way to Mercy Hospital in Coon Rapids, the sheriff's office said.
She remained hospitalized Saturday night; her condition has not been released.
The sheriff's office said a thunderstorm moved into the area quickly. There were no other reports of injuries at the baseball park, said Kyle Blum, a lead dispatcher for the Anoka County communications center.
About two miles away, a house caught fire after it was struck by lightning roughly 30 minutes after the woman was struck, said Gordy Hughes, a lead dispatcher for the Anoka County communications center.
Two adults were displaced from a house on the 2300 block of 145th Lane Northeast in Ham Lake, Hughes said, and the American Red Cross was assisting them late Saturday afternoon.
Fire crews extinguished the fire by 4:45 p.m., about 90 minutes after it began. Hughes had no report on how bad the house was damaged.
In Plymouth, a house was struck by lightning and caught fire about 5 p.m., according to the Hennepin County sheriff's office dispatch center. The bolt struck a house on the 4900 block of Rosewood Lane, on the north edge of the city. Firefighters were battling the flames for at least an hour and a half; no injuries were reported.
Areas in Anoka County, including Ham Lake, Maple Grove and Coon Rapids, saw 1-1/2 to 2 inches of rain during the day Saturday, said Bill Borghoff, a forecaster at the National Weather Service in Chanhassen.
Borghoff said several heavy showers, thunderstorms and lightning moved through the area Saturday and were expected continue through Saturday night. He said the rain will subside during the day Sunday, and another wave of showers and thunderstorms is expected Sunday night in the Twin Cities' north suburbs.
Will Ashenmacher contributed to this report. Raya Zimmerman can be reached at 651-228-5524. Follow her at Twitter.com/RayaZimmerman.
Copyright 2014 - Pioneer Press, St. Paul, Minn.
