A lightning strike at the Grafton Reintegration Center in Ohio on Tuesday evening injured 16 inmates who were returning from dinner when the bolt hit the facility in Lorain County. One inmate was airlifted to a regional medical center, while nine have since returned to the prison and seven remain hospitalized, one in serious condition. No staff were hurt and no deaths were reported at the prison, which houses around 2,000 minimum- and medium-security inmates.
The strike was part of a broader severe weather system that battered the US Midwest. At least three deaths were confirmed in the region, including a four-year-old boy in Indiana whose family's mobile home was struck by a falling tree, an Indiana woman killed in a home explosion during powerful winds, and an Ohio resident who died when floodwaters prevented first responders from reaching them.
Three tornadoes touched down in Chicago's southern suburbs, and widespread power outages left more than 295,000 customers without electricity in Indiana, 185,000 in Ohio, and 145,000 in Illinois.