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CHICAGO — A teen girl is in critical condition after she was struck by lightning Wednesday afternoon in Garfield Park.

As storms moved in this afternoon, a 13-year-old girl was inside Garfield Park, near the conservatory in the 300 block of North Central Park, when she was struck by lightning. Paramedics rushed the girl to Stroger Hospital in critical condition.

Italian ice vendor Daniel Jackson was in the park with his son. He said he saw the girl playing with her family on the lawn near the conservatory minutes before the lightning strike.

“We heard a big boom hit and that’s when it struck the girl in the back,” said witness Daniel Jackson. “I feel devastated for the parents because the little girl stopped breathing.”

Following the quick and intense burst in the area, storms moved out and no other severe weather popped up the rest of the night.

In Chicago, several trees were reported down on the Northwest Side and in the suburbs.