Staff at a Hamilton school have told of a flash and huge bang as lightning struck the property this afternoon, putting four staff in hospital with moderate injuries.
Emergency services were called to Hamilton North School, a special needs school on the site of Hamilton Junior High School, after the incident happened during a violent electrical storm at about 1.30pm.
Hamilton North School principal Tony Kane told 1 NEWS lightning struck a goal post at the adjacent Hamilton Junior High School and jumped to their school building.
"There was a massive lightning strike and a bang at the same time, huge bang!" Mr Kane said, standing near the goal post which is some distance from the school building.
Four staff members at Hamilton North Special School were checked over after the dramatic lightning strike this afternoon.
"Almost simultaneously the smoke detectors have gone off in the rooms throughout the school," he said.
"We went off and checked out to make sure everyone was safe. And everyone kept very calm. We at the same time made sure everyone was ok."
Mr Kane said a few staff complained about having tingling down the side of their arms, so St John Ambulance was called, "and they've checked out the four staff and they've taken them off to the hospital just to be checked out".
He said: "And the students, we've had them checked out, the ones that were in the room, and they appear fine. But we've notified their parents and we'll keep an eye on them as well."
The lightning strike was "really very scary - a bit close to home".
"It's affected our internet service, it's sort of fried a few things - alarms systems and things. We've got technicians on site at the moment fixing it."
Mr Kane said had the lightning struck a bit earlier, at lunchtime, the students would have been outside, and it was "lucky everyone was inside and it was far enough away from the classrooms not to cause more damage."
Teacher Kieren McBride said they were sitting in class, "and had one kid who has already started watching out the window for the lightning because it was exciting".
"And then all of a sudden there's just a flash and bang at the same time.
"Most of the kids covered their ears, and it was just too loud, and some started jumping about which is pretty normal for us.
"And one kid was upset because their computer had turned off, so that was probably the most damage that happened in my classroom."
Waikato Hospital said tonight all four of the people taken in after the incident had been discharged.
MetService says there have been around 72 lightning strikes over the Waikato region since midnight.
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