The Tribune

By FARRAH JOHNSON

fjohnson@tribunemedia.net

A LIGHTNING storm forced Bahamas Power and Light to leave customers across New Providence without power for hours on Saturday.

BPL said the power outage was a result of lightning striking the company’s overhead system with areas affected including Nassau East, South Star Estates, McKinney Drive and Carmichael Road.

BPL also revealed “isolated outages” occurred that same day in Carmichael Road, Sunset Park and its surrounding areas and portions of Blue Hill Road and Pinewood, including Buttonwood Avenue.

During the outage, disgruntled customers in affected areas took to social media to voice their complaints. Seven hours after issuing its first statement, BPL released another one notifying customers the issue had since been resolved in most areas.

“Bahamas Power and Light Company Ltd (BPL) wishes to confirm that all our customers affected by the lightning strikes that affected our overhead lines this morning have been restored to service, with the exception of customers in the South Ocean area,” the statement read.

“Our team is on site affecting mechanical repairs, and we expect to have those customers reconnected in approximately three hours. We thank our customers for their patience as we continue to make repairs, and we again encourage our customers to stay safe, and observe the shelter in place orders.”

BPL’s overhead system was not the only thing that was struck by lightning on Saturday morning. A video capturing lightning striking a home off Village Road — hours after the Bahamas Department of Meteorology issued a severe thunderstorm warning — made its rounds on social media yesterday.

In the short clip, a person is filming the lightning storm through a window in their house. The footage itself captures two Jeeps in a driveway being pummelled by rain from the overcast sky, seconds before a quick flash of lightning strikes and sets off a car alarm. Startled by the sudden flash, the person capturing the video drops their phone, while another person in the background shouts out an expletive.

One Facebook user said the lightning struck her neighbour’s house — just three doors down from her own residence.

“Now the cable is off (because) all of the boxes are fried,” the woman said in a Facebook post. “Even my pups that were outside started yelping and all ran inside. It felt like an explosion was right on top of our house.”

On Saturday, the Bahamas Department of Meteorology issued a severe thunderstorm warning for New Providence, Eleuthera and its surrounding waters.

“AT 8.40 am EDT, lightning detector, radar and satellite imagery projected clusters of thunderstorms and moderate to heavy rainfall associated with prefrontal activity moving towards and across the warning areas,” a forecaster reported.

The public was warned that some of the thunderstorms would be severe at times, causing “strong gusty winds, dangerous lightning, heavy downpours, hail and possible waterspout or tornadic activity.” Residents were also warned not to seek shelter under trees or in water since they can become lightning conductors.