CABAZON - A woman was injured today when lightning struck as she was walking in the parking lot of the Cabazon Outlets, a Cal Fire spokeswoman said.

Firefighters and paramedics were called to the outlet mall, which is just off Interstate 10 on Seminole Drive, just after the noon hour, said Cal Fire's Jody Hagemann.

The woman, whose name was withheld, was taken to a hospital for treatment of "moderate" injuries, according to Hagemann.

"She was in close proximity to where lightning struck," the Cal Fire spokeswoman said. "According to the firefighters, there were no entrance or exit wounds or burn marks."

Reports from the scene indicated the patient may have had an irregular heartbeat as a result of the strike.

Kathy Fredriksen, manager of the outlets, Advertisement
said she and her staff "didn't know anything about it until one of our tenants called."

"By the time our security officer went down there, she appeared to be fine and they took her off in an ambulance," Fredriksen said, but added the woman did seem "a little disoriented."

"There was a storm going on overhead and there was a lot of lightning activity," she said.

A handful of thunderstorms popped up across the Inland Empire this morning as a slow-moving, low-pressure system over the Pacific moved closer to the coast.

The unstable weather was caused by a low-pressure system west of Point Conception. A National Weather Service spokesman said it will move ashore over the next few days, and thunderstorms could occur through Friday or Saturday.

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