1. A 32-year-old man was struck by lightning and killed on Tuesday, July 28
2. The incident occurred at a solar field at 355 Hoffman Station Road in Monroe Township, New Jersey, around 3 p.m.
3. Monroe Police Chief Griffin Banos confirmed the response
4. The man was found unconscious and pronounced dead at Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital in New Brunswick
5. His identity is being withheld pending notification of next of kin
6. The incident occurred during severe thunderstorms
7. The death remains under investigation
The coverage confirms the statistical information about lightning strikes and provides context about previous lightning-related deaths in New Jersey. However, no direct quotes from family members, the victim, or other individuals involved were available in the public reporting—only official statements from police Chief Banos confirming the facts of the emergency response.
A 32-year-old man died after he was reportedly struck by lightning at a solar field in New Jersey on Tuesday afternoon, July 28
.
The Monroe Township Police Department received a report at approximately 3 p.m. that a man may have been struck by lightning near the solar field at 355 Hoffman Station Road, Monroe Police Chief Griffin Banos said
.
Officers, Monroe Township EMS, and Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital paramedics responded and found the man unconscious in the field, and the man was taken to Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital in New Brunswick, where he was pronounced dead, police said
.
His identity is being withheld pending notification of next of kin
.
The strike occurred during a severe weather event.
The strike occurred as a round of severe thunderstorms moved across New Jersey on Tuesday, bringing with it widespread power outages and significant flooding
.
The death remains under active investigation
.
Lightning statistics underscore the rarity of such fatalities.
About 37 million lightning strikes hit the ground in the U.S. each year, but the odds of being struck are less than one in a million and almost 90% of victims survive, according to the CDC
.
New Jersey has experienced multiple lightning-related fatalities in recent years.
News 12 New Jersey reported that last year, one person was killed and 14 others injured — including children — during a strike at an archery range in Jackson Township
.
Additionally,
a 28-year-old Franklin Lakes man, Simon Mariani, also died after being struck while golfing at Crystal Springs Resort in Sussex County; his father subsequently filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the resort
.
In an earlier incident,
in 2024, a man from Ocean County was fatally struck while alerting beachgoers to an approaching storm in Seaside Park
.
The broader impact of Tuesday’s weather extended well beyond this single tragedy.
In Bergen County, a lightning strike set a Ridgewood building on fire Monday night, lightning sparked a house fire in East Windsor, rendering a home uninhabitable, and in Old Bridge, a condo was engulfed in a three-alarm fire after being struck by lightning
.
Rescue operations unfolded across the state.
In neighboring Woodland Park, first responders evacuated more than 60 people, including children and staff from two daycare centers, with the town bringing high-water rescue vehicles to usher 11 kids and staff at Kiddie University Daycare to safety
.
Flooding caused severe damage to infrastructure throughout the region.
Floodwaters damaged asphalt on a road in Hawthorne, New Jersey, on July 28, because a brook runs under the road and there are World War II-era buildings in the area
.
The storm’s reach extended beyond New Jersey.
The lightning strike came as another powerful storm system affected much of the Northeast, prompting flash flood warnings, severe thunderstorm warnings, emergency water rescues, travel disruptions, and power outages across several states, with more than 11 million people under a flash flood threat as the storms moved through the region
.
Record-breaking heat followed by consecutive evenings of severe thunderstorms and strong winds damaged NJ TRANSIT infrastructure, with more than 50 trees falling onto tracks and overhead wires, though most rail service had been restored with repairs continuing on portions of the network where replacement bus service remained in operation
.
Nationwide, lightning deaths remain relatively uncommon but deadly.
Lightning deaths have dropped from 55 per year to about 20
.