Parishioners were left praying in the dark after a massive lightning bolt struck St Theresa church in Birkirkara, causing electrical damage to the neighbourhood.
The incident happened last Tuesday with Fr Wistin Vella from the St Theresa Convent yesterday saying the damage was still being assessed.
The bolt struck at 6.50am during Mass. The church went dark as neighbours reported a big noise that rattled the area and set off alarms.
“We have no telephone lines and no internet and the lightning rod on top of the belfry snapped,” Fr Vella said.
The electric equipment that controls the bells was also damaged, leading a shopkeeper to remark that she lost track of time because the bells stopped pealing on the hour.
“They stopped ringing after Tuesday’s incident,” she said.
We have no telephone lines and no internet and the lightning rod on top of the belfry snapped
Her shop suffered no damage, unlike some of the houses on the opposite side of the same road that runs along one side of the church.
A woman said a light bulb in front of a picture of Jesus she had at home blew up and the electric plug was spat out from its socket.
“I was scared. I thought it was an earthquake,” she said, adding that her daughter even saw a fireball from the skylight.
Another man who lives two doors up also reported seeing flashes of fire in his backyard. “It was loud and the ground shook,” he said.
The lightning bolt damaged television set-top boxes and telephone lines and an elderly woman also lost her TV set as her circuit breaker tripped.
Although the damage was confined to some of the houses in the immediate vicinity of the church, other people living in different areas of Birkirkara were shaken by the sheer force of the lightning bolt.
An Enemalta spokesman confirmed workers were dispatched to the area around St Theresa church to change burnt out fuses as a result of the electricity surge caused by the lightning.
“The damage was not widespread and the fuses did their job to cut off the electricity supply. Enemalta workers were out in the field on Tuesday and Wednesday to replace the fuses,” he said. One of the fuses belonged to the church.
But the incident did not disrupt the church’s end-of-year festivities.
Fr Vella said he rented a public address system and lighting equipment to ensure the programme went ahead. However, one of the neighbours had an explanation as to why the lightning bolt struck in her neighbourhood. With a smile on her face she said: “Maybe God wanted to warn us.”
The Birkirkara incident rekindled memories of a more tragic accident that happened in September 2012 when a 39-year-old man died after being struck by lightning in Marsascala while out hunting in the fields.