PASSAIC - A Passaic man was killed and six people were injured Sunday afternoon, when officials said lightning struck a tree and a large section of limbs fell on a Mother's Day gathering.
The incident occurred at 4:28 p.m., at a home on the 300 block of Paulison Avenue, said Lt. Jonathan Schaer of the Passaic Police.
Schaer said the 28-year-old man was struck in the head, and was pronounced dead at St. Joseph's Hospital in Paterson shortly after the incident.
The limbs hit six other people at the gathering, who were hospitalized for what Schaer said were non-life threatening injuries.
Schaer said a "flash storm" descended on the city quickly, and that other lightning strikes were reported, including one at Main Street and Carlton Avenue that damaged a transformer.
Elsehere in the city, police shut down a two-block stretch of Broadway, after part of a tree came down at the corner of Pearl Street. No injuries were reported in either of those two incidents, though several cars were damaged in the Pearl Street event.
The backyard of the multi-family house on Paulison Avenue was a shambles of splintered limbs atop a crushed party tent, tables with food still on them, and plastic chairs. The remnants of the ruined celebration, ringed by yellow police tape, included roses strewn on the ground and a balloon labeled Feliz Cumpleanos, or Happy Birthday, tangled in the downed branches. Neighbors said the family was of Mexican descent.
Passaic Mayor Hector Lora said the gathering was a combination Mother's Day celebration and birthday party, with 20 to 25 people present when the accident occurred.
The guests included the young man killed, who lived elsewhere in the neighborhood, and his wife, who was among the six people injured and was also taken to St. Joseph's. The couple's children had been at the gathering, but were not there when the accident happened, Lora said.
All of those injured, including five people taken to St. Mary's Hospital in Passaic, were adults, the mayor said.
"We're a city in a bit of shock," Lora told reporters outside the house, flanked by Police Chief Luis Guzman and Councilman Dr. Terrence Love. "Here on Mother's Day there are children who lost a parent."
Residents of the house where the accident happened did not answer the door, and then did not speak to a reporter when briefly opening the door to let in a visitor.
Residents of a house two doors up the block said they were having their own sunny Mother's Day celebration, when the skies suddenly grew dark.
"It happened really quick, because it was sunny, and then it got cloudy, and then it started to rain, and we heard the thunder," said Pablo Yepec, 35.
"And then the tree was falling down," added Ashley Ramirez, 18. Referring to the man who died, she said, "He was visiting for the Mother's Day party. It's very sad, really."
Stormy Sunday
The Passaic tree fatality was one of almost a dozen storm-related incidents reported in northeastern New Jersey by the National Weather Service on Sunday, after a series of fast-moving thunderstorms swept across the state. Among the reports were:
- A tree fell on a house on Roosevelt Road in West Milford.
- A tree fell on a house on Maple Street in Rutherford.
- A tree fell on a house on Raymond Avenue in Rutherford.
- A tree fell on a house on Wilson Avenue in Rutherford.
- A tree fell on a house on Ivy Drive in Clifton.
- A large tree feel onto train tracks at the Radburn Station in Fair Lawn.
- A tree fell on wires at Birch Hill and Indian Trail in Mountainside.
CORRECTION: Six people were injured, not five as police originally reported, according to Passaic Mayor Hector C. Lora.
Steve Strunsky may be reached at
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