Lightning strike sends 16 Ohio inmates to hospital (VIDEO)

A lightning strike at an Ohio prison injured 16 inmates, leaving one seriously hurt, as deadly storms swept across the US Midwest, state authorities said.

Lightning struck the Grafton Correctional Institution on Tuesday as a group of “incarcerated individuals were returning from the evening meal,” the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction (ODRC) said.

All 16 were initially taken to outside hospitals, with one evacuated by air ambulance. By Wednesday, four remained hospitalized, including one with serious injuries, according to Governor Mike DeWine. No deaths or staff injuries were reported.

The lightning strike came during severe storms that swept across the US Midwest, bringing tornadoes, flash flooding, powerful winds, and widespread power outages.

Preliminary data from the US weather service’s Storm Prediction Center indicated that the system could qualify as a derecho – a widespread, long-lived windstorm associated with a fast-moving line of thunderstorms.

Video published by the Ohio Department of Transportation shows powerful winds flipping a moving car on a highway in Columbus.

At least three deaths were reported during the storms.

An Ohio resident died during a medical emergency after flash flooding prevented first responders from reaching him, Governor Mike DeWine said. A four-year-old boy was killed after a tree fell on a home in Indiana on Tuesday, according to local authorities. A third person died in a house explosion in Portage, Indiana, which authorities were investigating as potentially weather-related, the Associated Press reported.