WATCH | #TheMoment lightning struck a London, Ont., high school, disrupting graduation ceremony

Talk astir a Grade 8 graduation to remember.

South Collegiate Institute successful London, Ont., was hosting Mountsfield Public School students for their graduation ceremonial Tuesday evening erstwhile the gathering was deed by lightning during a terrible thunderstorm.

The students had conscionable finished walking into the auditorium and crossing the signifier earlier celebrations got afloat underway erstwhile the lightning onslaught forced them archetypal extracurricular into the pouring rain and to a antithetic gathering to decorativeness the ceremony.

"There was 1 highly large thunderclap, and you knew it was precise adjacent oregon deed the building, and you could perceive parents saying, 'Oh, that was precise close,' and soon aft that, the alarms went off," said Nathan Klepeckas, whose daughter, Sydney, was among the Grade 8 grads.

Families and unit huddled in the parking store down South Collegiate as upwind and rainfall whipped the graduates, who were dressed successful suits and dresses, Klepeckas said.

"It was similar a hurricane retired there."

Another parent, Christine Betts, described large thunder earlier alarms started going disconnected and everyone had to permission into  downpour.

"The cracks of thunder were conscionable amazing," she said. "It was truly crazy." 

Fire crews arrived and determined the gathering was not structurally dependable and needed to stay empty, said Brent Shea, a platoon main with London Fire.

"It was apparent that lightning had stuck the chimney, which had dislodged respective pieces of factual and galore bricks from that portion of the structure," Shea said. "It besides broke disconnected a ample conception of ceramic that was precariously hanging astatine that point.... A tiny conception fell done the extortion into the 3rd level and we had respective pounds of value determination conscionable hanging."

The schoolhouse remains closed and South students who were expected to beryllium penning exams this week volition beryllium informed astir alternate arrangements, schoolhouse committee officials said. The committee has hired an technologist to look astatine the harm and repair the building.

After the lightning interruption, Mountsfield unit organized for parents and teachers to transport decorations and awards to Saunders Secondary School and the graduation ceremonial continued without a further hitch, Klepeckas said. 

There was adjacent a rainbow infinitesimal — South Collegiate doesn't person aerial conditioning, but Saunders does, which made for a overmuch much comfy ceremony, Betts said. 

Amateur lensman and videographer Solei Archambeault was sitting extracurricular the schoolhouse successful her car, waiting for a shot hockey crippled to commencement astatine the arena adjacent door, erstwhile she pulled retired her telephone camera to instrumentality immoderate shots of the thunderstorm.

She ended up capturing the infinitesimal the lightning struck the chimney.

"It was ace loud. It sounded similar a large crash," Archambeault said. "The likelihood of maine being determination astatine that nonstop clip and getting that connected camera was conscionable outstanding."