PHILADELPHIA — Severe thunderstorms across the Northeast over the weekend slowed operations at airports, wreaked havoc at outdoor sporting and musical events in New York and Philadelphia, and killed a boy who was swimming in central Pennsylvania creek.
Three boys were swimming in the Conowingo Creek in Fulton Township, Pa., when a storm moved through Sunday afternoon, authorities said.
Fire Chief Tracy Tomlinson said crews used an all-terrain vehicle to cross a field to reach the boys. The Dauphin County coroner’s office says one boy was pronounced dead at a hospital. The condition of a second boy who was injured has not been released. The third boy apparently was not hurt.
Lightning also sent people scurrying from a beach in New York after three men were struck by lightning.
The men were injured at Orchard Beach on Pelham Bay in the Bronx on Sunday evening as bad storms rolled through the area, New York fire officials said. The men were being treated at a hospital, and the extent of their injuries was unknown.
Torrential rain, thunder, and lightning interrupted Labor Day celebrations in Philadelphia, where a parkway hosting a music concert was evacuated for safety reasons.
Besides temporarily stopping the Made in America concert, the bad weather also forced the early end to the Electric Zoo musical festival on an island in New York’s East River and halted play for the first time at this year’s US Open tennis tournament.