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According to witnesses, the student had been sheltering under a large tree to avoid a sudden rush of heavy rain.

She appears to have killed instantly when lightning struck the tree. Emergency crews found the student badly burned, not breathing and with no signs of heartbeat. She was pronounced dead soon after being rushed to a local hospital.

By Friday afternoon, the base of the tree had become a makeshift memorial for the late student.

Following the incident, the school cancelled all frosh week orientation events “until further notice.”

Girls are crying in the residence

“Please stay away from open fields and trees during the thunderstorm until it clears up. Stay safe!” read a Friday morning Tweet by Waterloo Orientation—although it is not clear whether the post’s author knew of the deadly lightning strike at the time.

By Friday afternoon, students affected by the tragedy were being directed to on-campus counselling services. As one student told the Waterloo Region Record, “girls are crying in the residence.”

The storms that battered Waterloo this morning had cleared by about 11 a.m., but Environment Canada issued a severe thunderstorm warning for the region at 12:35 p.m.

“Damaging wind gusts, large hail and torrential rainfall are all threats. Isolated tornadoes are also a risk,” said the agency.

Between 1986 and 2005, 277 Canadians were killed by lightning—an average of 10 per year. As per Statistics Canada, campers and hikers have traditionally been most at risk of dying from lightning, and more than 94% of lightning deaths occur in the months between June and August.

Environment Canada’s official lightning safety guide advises Canadians to take shelter inside a building or vehicle at the first sound of thunder.

“If caught outside far from a safe shelter, stay away from tall objects, such as trees, poles, wires and fences,” it says.