The seat of power in Belleville had to make do without “any” power Friday after a series of thunderstorms rumbled through the region.
Belleville city hall was hit by lightning overnight as were many trees and at least one house. No injuries reported but power outages were also reported across the region.
“It would appear to have been during the electrical storm, at the height of it,” said Matt MacDonald, the corporate services director with the city.
“Reports are that people witnessed something on the clock tower, potentially a lightning strike.”
Lightning strikes throughout the region were not uncommon, in fact between Belleville and Kingston between 5:30 a.m. and 6:30 a.m. on Friday morning, there were at least 50 lightning strikes, according to Global Kingston weather specialist Bill Hall.
The Belleville city hall strike caused numerous problems as phones, the internal computer system, as well as the elevator were down for various amounts of time. MacDonald says the apparent strike is nothing new.
“If indeed we were hit, the lightning strike would be our second in the last couple years. One of the fire halls, we had a direct strike by lightning on one of our towers there as well.”
Lightning may also be to blame for a housefire at 134 Albert St. in Belleville. There were no injuries, and everyone escaped safely thanks to working smoke detectors.
The interior sustained heavy smoke and water damage. The fire investigation continues.