Residents in West Auckland were woken up to a thunderous boom about 4.40am today after a sudden electrical storm over Blockhouse Bay.
Video / John Morrison
Residents in a West Auckland suburb have woken up to what has been described as a “huge explosion” in the area after a short and sharp weather event in the early hours of this morning.
Northern fire communications confirmed they were called to reports of an explosion during a sudden electrical storm in and around the suburb of Blockhouse Bay about 4.40am.
The noise was so loud it was heard in nearby New Lynn and surrounding streets.
“It was very, very loud. There was this large, intense downpour and then this incredibly loud explosion - like lightning,” one resident said.
“It was enormous - just this very loud thunderclap.”
Northern fire communications shift manager Colin Underdown said fire crews went to Māui Pōmare St and Whitney St, where the explosion was reported - alongside a power outage to a number of homes.
A Vector spokesperson said homes in parts of west Auckland remain without power and crews were responding to two power outages in the area caused by a period of lightning this morning.
“We’ve been able to restore power for most homes, with only small pockets in Avondale still remaining off.
“We can assure those customers still without power we’re working as quickly and safely as we can to get the power back on.”
It is not yet known exactly how many homes are affected. But a map on Vector’s website shows a large pocket in and around Blockhouse Bay and New Lynn reporting no electricity as of 4.40am.
Vector's outage map confirms a large part of West Auckland is without power this morning. Image / Vector
By 8am, the website was showing that power is estimated to be restored by between 11am and 12pm.
No injuries were reported and there were no downed powerlines or trees brought down in the weather event, fire authorities said.
Two lightning strikes cause loud explosion - MetService
MetService meteorologist Alain Baillie said two lightning strikes were reported in that part of Auckland.
“There’s a whole lot of showers working their way through and occasionally, one has deep enough convection to achieve a thunder strike and thunderclap. They’re very, very short-lived.”
West Aucklanders, your correspondent can confirm a short-lived thunderstorm at 4.45AM this morning. Convection over the sea was aided by lift and convergence as it crossed the coast, but quickly died over the cold land. More showers today. Full forecast at https://t.co/Yjbq0jgaoz
Baillie said the lightning strikes were not the usual forked cloud-to-ground lightning many people knew of.
Instead, they were within clouds that were most likely lower to the ground than usual.
“The lightning still triggers the thunder and the base of the cloud was probably quite low. So...that noise from the lightning is still the same whether the lightning reaches the ground or not.
“It’s still a huge explosion within the cloud - so you get the thunderclap from that.”
Baillie, who lives in New Lynn, said the boom was loud enough to wake him up this morning.
Asked if he got a fright, he said: “Well, I’m pretty familiar with what’s going on, so I wasn’t too worried about it. Other people might’ve got quite the shock though.”
