• Thunderstorms rolled across Auckland early this morning, with residents reporting power cuts, shaking houses and terrified pets. 
• There were 750 lightning strikes in Auckland as the “conga line” of thunderstorms was pushed into the city by Cyclone Tam, MetService says. 
• Residents described the thunderstorms as the worst they’d experienced in the city. 

Power outages, shaking houses, blaring car alarms, terrified pets and baked beans at 1am – it was a wild night for thousands as thunder and lightning crashed and flashed across New Zealand’s biggest city early this morning. 

There were 750 lightning strikes across Auckland between about midnight and 4.30am, MetService confirmed, in a late flick from Cyclone Tam that pushed a “conga line” of thunderstorms over the city. 

“Right, why have I been woken up by a biblical storm?” an English holidaymaker asked on Reddit’s Auckland subreddit at 1am. 

“I have no idea if this is normal, but is everyone else awake?” 

They were. 

One described the sound of the storm as “like a truck falling on my house”, another wrote that “my house is going to fly away soon, I’m sure of it”. 

“I find it weird that for the last 3hrs, the weather has been a metric f*** tonne worse than the actual cyclone lol”, wrote one city resident of the early-morning sleep-stealer. 

“These thunder slaps are godlike.” 

Lightning striking the Sky Tower during the thunderstorms that hit Auckland. Photo / Vishal Umashankar 

Several posted that the thunderstorms were the worst they’d experienced living in Auckland, including one who has notched up almost half a century in the city. 

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“I’ve lived here most of my 50 years and that is one of the loudest, longest storms I’ve heard.” 

Some took to comfort food after the unexpectedly early start to the day, including baked beans, salami sandwiches, pumpkin soup and “chicken and cheesy toast”. 

“I’m actually just a bit annoyed because I’ve been woken up by a villainous thunderclap, and now I’m eating baked beans at nearly one in the morning”, one wrote on Reddit. 

Up to 750 lightning strikes hit Auckland overnight. 

Pets were also unimpressed, among them a “deaf as a post” dog and a cat that “came flying in at 100mph looking crazed”, but still managed a pitstop at his dinner bowl. 

“Yeah that’s some hard-out thunder and lightning! Can’t say my house has ever been shaken quite so violently by thunder before. Epic. Terrified my dog. And he’s deaf as a post.” 

Then, after all the rattling, flashing and booming, tranquility. 

“And now, all of a sudden it’s completely still and quiet”, a Reddit user wrote after the worst passed. 

“I was loving the chaos … watched the lightning earlier and it was f***ing magical.” 

Cherie Howie is an Auckland-based reporter who joined the Herald in 2011. She has been a journalist for more than 20 years and specialises in general news and features.