Lightning Kills 2 Farm Workers; 6 Other People Hurt

SAN JOSE — Lightning killed two farm workers and injured six other people during a freak storm that hit the San Jose region on Friday. One victim was a 20-year-old farm worker spending his first day in the fields.

The morning storm shook buildings with its booming thunder, lit up the sky with flashing streaks and caused a power outage that affected about 6,000 people in a 250-mile swath from San Jose to near San Luis Obispo.

In the Salinas area, about 40 miles south of San Jose, five farm workers were thrown to the ground by lightning strikes, fire and hospital officials said.

In a field in Soledad, Ramon Brabo, 20, was killed when hit by lightning that also flung two women to the ground as they were walking to a bus to get out of the storm, said Jesse Juarez, owner of the Yuma Produce field.

In a nearby field in Chular, two other farm workers were directly hit by lightning. One, a 27-year-old, was treated for minor injuries, but the other man, whose name and age were not available, died at Santa Clara Medical Center, authorities said.