ST CATHERINE, Jamaica – Residents of Portmore in St Catherine say they were awakened by an extraordinary series of lightning strikes in the early hours of Monday as the municipality was lashed by a thunderstorm.

“Lightning, thunder, madness,” said one woman who resides in the Daytona section of Greater Portmore. “It woke me up about 2:47 and lasted for a little over an hour.”

A man who resides in Phoenix Park said the experience was so “scary” for his young daughter that he had to keep her company throughout the rest of the morning.

“My daughter woke up because she was afraid of the thunder. I had to stay with her,” he told OBSERVER ONLINE.

Another resident, who lives in Braeton, said “you could literally see the lightning in the sky. It did bad.”

There were also reactions on social media.

One man took to X, formerly known as Twitter, to share the sound of a loud thunder clap which was followed by the shout of a male voice questioning “A wha dat?!”

Another X user said, “Bro ah the most lightning this ever ah Portmore”, while another added “The rain just started and the thunder is so heavy, it shakes the house!!”

Meanwhile, another user apparently found it strange that the thunderstorm was only being reported by persons in the municipality.

“Is this thunder and lightning only in Portmore?” she questioned.

The Meteorological Service of Jamaica stated in its forecast Monday that early morning thunderstorms were anticipated for Portmore, Kingston, Spanish Town, Savanna-la-Mar and Negril. However, up to publication time, there were no similar reports outside of Portmore.

There were also no reported casualties due to the thunderstorm.