A lot happened in New York this week. Just two days before a powerful earthquake shook the city and surrounding areas to Philadelphia on Friday morning, a severe storm hit the city and brought high, destructive winds, heavy rain and lightning.
In a scene that almost looks like something out of a post-apocalyptic movie, lightning striking the Statue of Liberty was captured Wednesday by photographer Dan Martland. Lightning appears to come from Lady Liberty’s torch, creating an electric portrait.
Responding to a social media user’s question about how long he waited in the storm to capture this image, Martland said he monitored the weather with apps before heading out for the shoot.
“I usually monitor the weather with apps and head out if the weather is good,” Martland wrote. “I’ve had times where I was out for eight hours and didn’t get anything. Today it only lasted an hour. The storm passed pretty quickly. And the apps showed that ‘there were no more cells towards me.’
The photographer also responded to those who asked if the images were artificially staged, explaining that the shots are still images and that he used a flash shutter to capture them.
This isn’t the first time Martland has been surprised by lightning striking the Statue of Liberty. A similar image from April 2023 was also pinned on his Instagram account.
One dead as strong gusts hit trees in New York
In addition to rain, gusts and lightning, Wednesday’s storm also caused damage in the form of falling trees that left one person dead in Westchester County, about 36 miles north of downtown Manhattan .
She is Catherine Tusiani, 50, wife of Michael Tusiani, senior vice president of partnerships for the New York Yankees, reported the Lohud Journal News, part of the USA TODAY NETWORK.
Authorities said Tusiani was killed when high winds caused a tree to fall on her car as she was driving home Wednesday around 5:30 p.m.
CBS News reported that several trees fell across the city, including in Central Park, damaging properties and cars. A flood warning was issued and authorities advised people to keep an eye out for “fallen trees, branches and power lines.”
Travel advice continues:
The highest flood threat has ended, expect scattered showers throughout the afternoon. Winds have died down but gusts are expected to reach 20 mph. The coastal flood threat cycle is expected to end around 12 p.m. for BX and S. QNS
Watch for fallen trees, branches and power lines. pic.twitter.com/oDBbTDwoE3
– NYC Emergency Management (@nycemergencymgt) April 4, 2024
Power outages were also reported in several areas of New York City.
Saman Shafiq is a trending news reporter for USA TODAY. Contact her at sshafiq@gannett.com and follow her on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter @saman_shafiq7.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Photographer captures moment lightning strikes Statue of Liberty
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