Waikato Hospital lightning strike: Pagers, internet, fire system affected

A weekend lightning strike at Waikato Hospital affected pagers, internet and the fire system, sending Fire and Emergency crews to the Hamilton site.

The news comes as MetService recorded 25 lightning strikes in the Hamilton area on Sunday.

Health New Zealand Te Whatu Ora Waikato operations group director Stephanie Doe said lightning struck Waikato Hospital on Sunday evening.

“We have systems in place to ensure the safety of our people and patients.”

Doe said pagers, the fire system, fire sprinklers, some landlines, internet, swipe card access in some areas of the hospital and barrier arms were affected by the lightning strike.

“We also dealt with some false alarms, such as a gas panel in a non-clinical building showing a fault, where there was none,” Doe said.

A lightning strike at Waikato Hospital affected pagers, internet and the fire system, with Fire and Emergency crews being sent to the site.

“On-call engineers came into the hospital to ensure the impact of the strike was assessed and that any issues were quickly resolved.

“At no point in time was there any disruption to the delivery of patient care at the hospital.”

Doe said lightning strikes at the hospital were “rare”.

“I want to thank our engineers who did an outstanding job, and external parties including Fire and Emergency NZ for helping to quickly and safely deal with the situation.”

A Fire and Emergency spokesperson said crews responded to a fire alarm activation at Waikato Hospital about 7pm on Sunday.

“This was believed to have been caused by lightning striking the building,” the spokesperson said.

“Four trucks responded, but no action was required. They had all left the scene by 7.30pm.”

25 lightning strikes across Hamilton in one day

MetService meteorologist Mmathapelo Makgabutlane said there were about 25 lightning strikes in the general Hamilton area on Sunday.

“On Sunday, there was a weather feature at the surface that triggered the upwards movement of air,” Makgabutlane said.

“This was enhanced by cooler air in the upper atmosphere, and together, these allowed the formation of thunderstorms and consequently, lightning.”

Makgabutlane said lightning occurred either within clouds or between clouds and the ground.

“As a thunderstorm develops, water droplets and ice crystals collide within the cloud, generating static electricity.

“Strong winds then transport these charged particles to the higher parts of the cloud, leading to a build-up of positive and negative charges.”

Eventually, Makgabutlane said, the imbalance would be corrected by a sudden discharge of electricity, which we see as lightning.

“Tall structures, such as buildings and trees, are often struck first because lightning follows the shortest path to the ground.”

Makgabutlane said the safest place to be when lightning strikes is inside a building or a car, away from anything directly connected to the outside.

Maryana Garcia is a Hamilton-based reporter covering breaking news in Waikato. She previously wrote for the Rotorua Daily Post and Bay of Plenty Times.