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South Carolina Man killed by Lightning

July 18, 2006

A James Island man died after being struck by lightning while gardening outside his home Sunday afternoon, authorities said.

John Boggs, 82, decided to work in the backyard of his home on 422 Trapier Drive around 4 p.m., a Charleston County sheriff's report states. His wife thought he had gone into a shed when a storm began; but 45 minutes later, she went outside and found him lying face down in the garden.

A sheriff's deputy later noted apparent lightning damage to a pine tree 6 to 8 feet away, the report states.

"An autopsy today confirmed that his death was from a lightning-related injury," Charleston County Deputy Coroner Rae Wooten said Monday.

The National Weather Service in Charleston recorded 214 cloud-to-ground lightning strikes between 4 and 5 p.m. Sunday, the vast majority of them in a small area over James Island, meteorologist Jonathan Lamb said.

According to the National Lightning Safety Insititute, 19 people died from lightning in South Carolina, from 1990 through 2003.