Witness Recalls Moment 4 Girls Were Struck By Lightning At Swimming Hole

Four girls were hospitalized after being struck by lightning while having fun at a popular Mayes County swimming hole. Witnesses said the entire situation was chaotic and scary.

James Whisler and his family were at the Blue Hole Park swimming area when the storms blew through Saturday morning.

“It was extremely loud, it shook my truck,” said Whisler. “You could hear the crackle in the air, it was incredible.”

Whisler said the next thing he saw was several people frantically carrying children in their arms.

The Grand River Dam Authority said the four girls were all playing in the water when they were struck by lightning.

“There was some confusion about one of the children,” said Whisler. “They couldn’t figure out who the family was, so we were passing along information from car to car.”

Whisler said people were also screaming about calling 911 because phone signal was so bad.

Investigators said people drove two of the girls to a hospital. Two others were taken to a different hospital by ambulance.

Whisler said it was raining off an on through the morning. He said he asked the staff if swimming was still allowed and they told him the storms would pass on.

“I think that there was an opportunity for the people that were running the swimming area to shut it down before something bad happened,” said Whisler. “They were fully aware of what the weather was, and I even asked them when we got there if it was OK to go swimming and they said, 'oh yeah, the storms should pass over.'”

The names and conditions of the girls have not been released.

News On 6 reached out to the staff at Blue Hole Park to see if they had a severe weather policy for allowing people to swim when storms are in the area. Our call with a woman claiming to be an owner was disconnected, and a return call went unanswered.