A lightning strike has “blown up” a large tree on a Rotorua golf course, scattering wood 50 metres in all directions.

The region was hit by a spectacular electrical storm overnight causing thousands to lose power with MetService issuing further weather warnings today.

Almost 400 lightning strikes were recorded across Rotorua and Bay of Plenty overnight.

Springfield Golf Club head greenkeeper Dan Toogood said 50-100 kilograms of wood was blown from a large tree on the course when it was struck by lightning around 5.15am.

Marks caused by a lightning strike at the Springfield Golf Course. Photo / Supplied

He discovered the tree had been “disintegrated” by the lightning when he was doing his checks this morning. He said it was something he’d never seen on the course before.

Toogood believed the tree was a conifer and was around 40m tall.

He said the tree appeared to have “blown up” about 2m from the base with wood spread 50 metres away in every direction of the tree.

”It’s crazy.”

There was debris on the 8th, 9th and 10th holes and the greens were damaged.

Toogood said some of the bits of wood were too large for him to remove alone and would need to be chopped up.

”The craziest thing is you can see the lightning bolt in the ground ... one of my greens has got bolt marks, like veins through it.

He said it also travelled through the irrigation line, blew up valve boxes and destroyed the wiring, with the controller box in his shed “absolutely destroyed and blown to bits”.

He said it was lucky there were no fires.

He said his manager had heard “a big bang, like an explosion” this morning, and he realised it was probably the “obliterated” tree when he got to the course.

This tree was damaged by a lightning strike at the Springfield Golf Course. Photo / Supplied

He said an arborist was likely going to be called to remove the tree, which would now be a hazard.

”We’re lucky it happened at 5.15am and not midday when there are people around.”

The course would remain closed tomorrow, with Toogood’s main concern being the amount of water on the course. He said the tree and debris would be blocked off until it was sorted.

Power outages

A Unison spokeswoman said approximately 3500 properties lost power in Rotorua this morning.

“We were able to reconfigure our network to reconnect many of these customers to restore their power quickly. The most prominent outages were caused by failing equipment. We are investigating the cause of the equipment failures, however it is likely the poor weather was a contributing factor,” the spokeswoman said.

“We expect to have the remaining outage in the Old Taupo Rd area restored by approximately 3pm today.”

Weather warnings

Rain, lightning strikes and power cuts have affected the region this morning with MetService issuing further weather warnings.

Bay of Plenty west of Te Puke, Coromandel Peninsula and Tairāwhiti have been placed under orange heavy rain warnings until 3pm Friday.

It was expected 140-180mm of rain would fall in that time, with peak rates of 15 to 25mm per hours and more thunderstorms possible.

MetService meteorologist Alwyn Bakker said the prolonged rainfall in Bay of Plenty, Coromandel and Gisborne caused by the low-pressure system from the Tasman Sea may cause flooding and slips even if warning criteria were not reached.

The heavy rain may cause streams and rivers to rise rapidly. Surface flooding and slips are also possible and driving conditions may be hazardous.

While there was no heavy rain warning for Rotorua, there was still a chance of more thunderstorms and intense rainfall today.

Lightning storm captured near Whakatāne this morning. Photo / Roz Anderson Photography

Due to surface flooding, caution was advised for travel on State Highway 30 between Cookson Rd and Rotokawa Rd near Rotorua, Waka Kotahi NZ Transport Agency said.

The region woke to intense thunder and lightning strikes this morning with 391 strikes recorded across Rotorua and Bay of Plenty, and off the coast overnight.

MetService meteorologist John Law said in the last 24 hours, Rotorua received 64mm of rain, Tauranga 22mm, Whakatāne 37mm and Whangamata 11mm, however, most of the rain had been since the early hours of this morning.

Two hundred lightning strikes were recorded on land in the Bay of Plenty overnight, and 391 in total when including strikes off the coast, he said.

Thames-Coromandel District Council this morning warned motorists travelling on the region’s roads to watch for flooding and debris.

Cira Olivier is a social issues and breaking news reporter for NZME Bay of Plenty. She has been a journalist since 2019.