“It makes a change from boring hurricanes,” was Governor George Fergusson’s reaction to his house being struck by lightning on Wednesday night.

He was entertaining relatives at Government House when they heard an almighty bang at 9.30pm.

Mr Fergusson told The Royal Gazette: “If you are struck by lightning and you live to tell the story afterwards, I think you are lucky.

“There was quite a strong electric storm around Hamilton and we could hear lots of bangs and flashes around.

“Then there was a very loud bang and the lights flickered. The power went off and the generator clicked in quite quickly. We are all fine — it gave us something to talk about. It is the first time for me. It certainly made you jump.”

There appeared to be no physical damage to the house but there were problems with the electrics that continued into the morning, affecting the internet and landlines.

“This morning, various things were discovered to have been blown and had to be replaced. All of the damage is electronic that I am aware of.

“There was some disruption this morning — some people may have tried to phone us but the phones were out.

“There’s no e-mail but various other stuff to get on with. It has been a bit sporadic — some things still aren’t working.

“It was very startling and then it was a question of trying to find out what, if any, damage had been done and checking that we weren’t actually on fire and that sort of thing.

Lightning struck Government House in 2009 and caused damage, but a conductor was then fitted.

“It seems to have done its job,” Mr Fergusson said.