5 people admitted to area hospitals after being hit by lightning at Lake Murray
At least five people were admitted to local hospitals Tuesday after lightning struck Lake Murray, according to the hospitals.
Overall, nearly two dozen people were taken to three area hospitals after a popup thunderstorm caused a bolt of lightning to strike near a group of swimmers at Lake Murray at around 4:45 p.m. on Tuesday.
Eight people, including five adults and three children, were taken to Lexington Medical Center, and two were admitted, according to spokesperson Allison Sanford.
While Sanford couldn’t say whether the two admitted patients had been released as of late Wednesday morning, she said all eight patients were treated for non-life threatening injuries.
Another 15 people were transported to Prisma hospitals, according to spokesperson Tammie Epps. Five were treated at Prisma Health Parkridge and 10 at Prisma Health Richland and Prisma Health Children’s Hospital-Midlands. Three children were admitted.
Epps was gathering information on the patients’ conditions Wednesday afternoon.
Those injured were swimming at a public beach near the Lake Murray dam when they were injured. Dominion Energy, which owns the lake, does not employ lifeguards at the beach, the company said. Signs at the beach warn swimmers about the absence of lifeguards.
Lightning strikes are common in South Carolina. Matthew Gropp, a meteorologist at the National Weather Service in Columbia, said tens of thousands of strikes can be seen in South Carolina annually.
Most of those strikes occur during the summer, Gropp said, when a single thunderstorm can produce anywhere from a dozen to a few hundred lightning strikes.
To avoid being struck, people should take precautions as soon as they hear thunder. That’s because lightning can strike miles from the storm’s center, which is what happened at Lake Murray Tuesday.
“Yesterday was a just a typical afternoon popup thunderstorm that we see pretty commonly in the Midlands in South Carolina,” Gropp said. “The thunderstorm was between three and five miles to the south of the beach on Lake Murray and, unfortunately, hit in a bad spot there.”
People should never seek shelter from lightning under a tree, Gropp said.
“When lightning strikes a tree, it can go out through the tree’s root system and and hit multiple people at once,” he said. “So, hiding under a tree is not a safe option.
This story was originally published June 25, 2025 at 4:02 PM.
