It had never happened in North Carolina before -- until last Thursday.

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The Fayetteville Observer reports that two people were killed by separate lightning strikes in North Carolina on the same day. Despite the extremely slim chance of two separate incidents in the same state on the same day, Steven Bryan and Frankie Roberts both died after they were hit by lightning on April 9.

The first death happened during the morning as Roberts, 56, walked her dogs outside her home in Harnett County. 

Another round of storms fired up by evening, leading to the death of Steven Bryan. He was in a mall parking lot in Carey, about 40 miles to the south of the first death, when he was hit around 8:15 p.m.

One person struck and killed by lightning is rare enough. For two people, only miles apart, to be struck by two separate lightning bolts within a matter of hours, then, is astronomically rare. 

According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the odds of being struck by lightning are one in nearly 1.2 million, and only 10 percent of the 267 people struck by lightning annually die from injuries sustained by the strike. 

(MORE: University of Dayton Student Struck by Lightning Hospitalized in Serious Condition) 

A day before Roberts and Bryan were killed, lightning struck University of Dayton student Sean Ferguson, who remains hospitalized in critical condition. 

MORE ON WEATHER.COM: Incredible Lightning Photos