The girl was walking with a friend in her backyard when they "believed that they could smell a bonfire," before she reached out for the electrical line.
Michigan experienced severe thunderstorms on August 29th, 2022, along with Ohio, Illinois and Indiana.
Close to 640,000 people in Michigan were still without power on the morning of August 30, 2022, and in Indiana, over 16,000 people were in the dark, according to the online tracker PowerOutage.us. Downed power lines were also reported in Ohio and Illinois, according to the National Weather Service, according to NBC News.
A teenage girl who came in contact with a downed power line was fatally executed.
The Monroe Public Safety Department took to Facebook to share that the 14-year-old girl, who has not been identified, was walking with a friend in her backyard when they "believed that they could smell a bonfire."
She then "reached for what she believed was a stick, however, it was the charged electrical line," authorities said in the news release.
When emergency responders arrived, they realized that the teen "was still in contact with the energized electrical line," which fell as a result of a "passing thunderstorm." Immediately, energy crews were dispatched to disconnect the lines so that they could save the teen.
Girl, 14, electrocuted in Southeast Michigan after mistakenly touching downed power line https://t.co/GRFwNOu6gp
— Ricardo Quintanilla (Ric Antonio) (@RicAntonioOnAir) August 30, 2022
But when they got close, "it was obvious that she had succumbed to her injuries." What's worse is that the victim's parents were there at the time of the incident. Monroe Police Chaplains are "providing support for the family through this very difficult situation."
According to the news release, Monroe Police Detectives remain on the scene to complete the investigation. People left comments on social media, with one user writing, "I cannot imagine that poor family! Watching her knowing there isn’t anything you can do to help. My prayers are with them."
Due to the severe rains, a woman, whose name has not been released, died after being crushed by a falling tree in Ohio. The woman's death was confirmed by Toledo Fire Chief Allison Armstrong to WTOL. Armstrong, while urging people to stay safe, said to "always pay attention to the weather."
"Weather can come fast, winds can come fast, so you always just want to pay attention to your surroundings and try to be in a safe place if you can," the fire chief added.
Hundreds of thousands of Michigan residents were without electricity on Tuesday after powerful storms toppled trees and downed thousands of power lines in the state a day earlier, including one that electrocuted a 14-year-old girl. https://t.co/FQeS2O5gcK
— Reuters Science News (@ReutersScience) August 31, 2022
"Those heavy rains, when they fell, a lot of them fell really quickly and in a short time," said meteorologist Brad McGavock with the weather service in Tulsa, Oklahoma, which covers parts of Arkansas, according to CBS News. "Water management through those storm drains can really lead to a big volume of water through those culverts."
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Representative Cover Image Source: Getty Images | photovs
