New Jersey, 2001

Lightning Strike in New Jersey, August 11, 2001

August 11, 2001 · NWS PHI · 1 event in 1 county or zone

A lightning strike killed a 29-year-old man while he was crabbing with his father on the Oranoaken Creek in the Egg Island Wildlife Management Area in Downe Township. They were in a non-motorized crabbing boat when the thunderstorm struck.

Where it happened

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The toll

Deaths
1
Injuries
0
Property damage
None recorded
Crop damage
None recorded
Events
1

Deaths and injuries are direct and indirect together, as the offices filed them. Damage is property and crops in the dollars of the year, not adjusted for inflation, and only where an office estimated it.

What happened

The episode as NWS PHI wrote it up.

A lightning strike killed a 29-year-old man while he was crabbing with his father on the Oranoaken Creek in the Egg Island Wildlife Management Area in Downe Township. They were in a non-motorized crabbing boat when the thunderstorm struck. He apparently was standing in the boat when he was struck by lightning in the head. Efforts to revive him failed. A bit farther east, a lightning strike damaged part of the electric security fencing at the Leesburg State Prison in Maurice River Township.

What forecasters said that day

The local office's own words before the first event, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.

NWS Philadelphia/Mount Holly wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Aug 11, 3:08 AM EST, 2 hours 52 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Aug 11, 3:08 AM EST, 2 hours 52 minutes before
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MOUNT HOLLY NJ
408 AM EDT SAT AUG 11 2001

THE HEAT BUSTER MOVD THRU THE AREA ABT AS FCSTD.  TRW BROKE BACK OF
HEAT WAVE FRI AFTN MOST AREAS. CD FNT A BIT SLUGGISH THIS
MRNG...APPEARING TO BE JUST WORKED ITS WAY INTO THE POCONOS...AS
EVIDENCED BY LWR DWPTS.  FURTHER S DEWPTS STILL IN L-M 70S. FNT WL
SLOWLY SAG S BUT PROB NOT MAKE IF MUCH FURTHER S...HANGING UP
SOMEWHERE FRM NRN OR NE NJ BACK TO NR OR JUST S OF LEHI VLY AND OR
ARND MID TO LWR SUS VLY.  PLNTY OF MSTR TO LURK ARND AND XPCT BOUTS
OF RW AND TRW ACRS FA THIS WEEKEND.  TIMING WL BE DIFFICULT...AS IT
WL DEPEND ON IMPULSES THAT WL RIDE UP ALNG THE FNT.

WL MAKE CURNT FCST ON CHC PRECIP SIDE TDA...BECMG LIKELY TNGT WITH
LIKELY INTO SUN.  INDICATIONS ARE THAT FNT WL SLOWLY SAG S SUN NGT
AND MON...FINALLY CLRNG XTRM SE PTNS OF FCST AREA LATER MON NGT OR
ERLY TUE.

AS FOR RELIEF...S OF FNT...TEMPS WL NOT MAKE IT INTO THE 90S AS THIS
PAST WEEK BUT WL STAY IN THE 80S...HOWEVER HUMIDITIES WL BE QUITE HI
AND MAKE IT FEEL VERY CLOSE.  N OF FNT...SLITELY LWR DEWPTS MAY MAKE
IT FEEL A BIT MORE COMFORTABLE...WHENEVER IT WONT BE RAINING.

FCSTID = 14
MPO   79  67  79  63 /  30  60  40  30
ABE   80  68  82  66 /  40  60  40  30
RDG   80  68  82  66 /  40  60  40  30
PHL   82  71  84  71 /  40  60  60  50
12N   79  67  79  63 /  30  60  40  30
SMQ   80  70  82  67 /  40  60  60  50
TTN   83  71  83  71 /  40  60  60  50
MIV   83  72  83  72 /  40  60  60  50
ACY   82  72  82  71 /  40  60  60  50
ILG   82  71  84  71 /  40  60  60  50
DOV   83  72  83  72 /  40  60  60  50
GED   83  72  83  72 /  40  60  60  50
ESN   83  72  83  72 /  40  60  60  50

.PHI...
DE...NONE.
MD...NONE.
NJ...NONE.
PA...NONE.
MARINE...NONE.

JWH

The radar

The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

1 lightning. Local standard time, as filed.

Lightning, Cumberland

When
August 11, 6:00 AM EST
Where
Cumberland County, 4 mi SW of Dividing Creek
Deaths
1 direct, 0 indirect
Reported by
NEWSPAPER
Coordinates
39.328, -75.129 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

The people who died

As the offices recorded each death: direct deaths were caused by the weather itself, indirect ones by something it set in motion.

EventDateAgeSexWhereKind
Lightning, Cumberland2001-08-1129MaleBoatDirect

What these are

Lightning
A lightning strike that killed, injured or caused damage.

After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.

The same day elsewhere

More

Every storm in New Jersey in 2001Every state in 2001This day in weather historyWarnings in New Jersey, August 2001

Sources

NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database, compiled from the National Weather Service’s monthly Storm Data. Complete through 2026-06; NCEI adds each month about 75 days after it ends and revises past years a few times a year. Rebuilt 2026-09-24. Each event’s entry at NCEI: 5268667.