Lightning strikes in the history of Hong Kong, with the city being hit with nearly 10,000 lightning strikes

Hong Kong was pummeled by nearly 10,000 cloud-to-ground lightning strikes in just hours overnight, causing flight delays and disrupting plans for a fireworks show.

In the dark of the night, Hong Kong suffered a tremendous thunderstorm, and the weather observatory reported a very high number of cloud-to-ground lightning strikes, reaching up to 9,437 between Tuesday evening and Wednesday morning.

On Tuesday night at around 9 pm, the lightning bolts started hitting the city with 5,914 bolts in the first hour itself as the city was drenched in the heavy downpour. The New Territories East faced the biggest damage, but the financial district on Hong Kong Island often had lightning striking its iconic skyscrapers.

Lightning is a common weather occurrence before the arrival of monsoon seasons in Hong Kong; however, the one that happened on Tuesday was unusually strong. It led to the hindrance of flights at its international airport. In Sai Kung, powerful winds were creating quite a mess in a grass bamboo-made opera theater set up outdoors.

The Hong Kong people may have a habit of dodging rain on their way back home in the evening, but I bet they didn't expect the fascinating lightning to create a show for a long time.

Families in Hong Kong who relied on social media to stay informed about the weather were shocked as videos began to emerge on the internet showing the incredible frequency of lightning bolts stretching from the sky all the way to the ground across Hong Kong's urban areas.

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The observatory alerted about the showers of lightning that were set to prevail throughout Wednesday evening and which may as well lead to the cancellation of the fireworks planned to initiate the Golden Week holiday. Visitors would typically make Hong Kong their travel destination during this time.

With the duration of the storm being extended, Hong Kongers should get ready for more downpours of hefty rain, strong gusts, and even lightning strikes from the clouds at least by Thursday.