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WEST VALLEY CITY, Utah (AP) -- The 16-year-old boy killed by lightning at a family gathering this weekend has been identified by police as Marion Toko of West Bountiful.
The youth was killed about 7:55 p.m. Saturday while standing on a hill in Hunter Park with several other teens, police Sgt. Dalan Taylor said.
A bolt of lightning hit Toko and his brother, 18-year-old Mone Toko. Marion Toko was pronounced dead at Pioneer Valley Hospital.
Taylor said the old brother was jolted hard enough to knock him out, and he was treated at the hospital and released.
Some of the other youths also were affected, but they were not seriously injured, Taylor said.
The brothers were at a family reunion. They were standing on a 20-foot hill with five to 10 other teens. "They were sliding down the hill on wet grass," Taylor said.
"There wasn't much of a hill. But they were high enough," National Weather Service meteorologist Chris Gibson said.
During a storm, people need to make sure they are not the highest object in the area. As soon as people hear thunder, they need to take shelter in a building or vehicle, Gibson said.
Although Utah does not receive much rain, it does receive numerous thunderstorms. Lightning is the leading weather-related killer in the state, Gibson said.
Elsewhere, two homes had flooding Sunday near Saratoga Springs, Utah County dispatchers said. There was standing water and debris on Utah 68, but the road remained open.
Approximately 350 Utah Power customers in Orem and another 1,100 in Pleasant Grove lost power shortly after 8 p.m. Sunday. Utah Power spokeswoman Margaret Kesler said the Pleasant Grove power outage was caused by lightning, and that power was restored by 10 p.m .
(Copyright 2004 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
