Battle at Fort Worth: How a string of electrical explosions lit up night sky like a scene from Star Wars



At first it looks like Texas is being attacked from the sky.

Dozens of fluorescent explosions sweep through the night in bursts of bright blue, orange and green flashes.

But the mysterious scene was actually caused by large numbers of electrical transformers exploding during a recent lightning storm in Fort Worth.

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Explosions: Three bright blue flashes from transformers illuminate the night sky during a lightning storm in Fort Worth, Texas, on Tuesday evening

A stunned resident recorded the amazing sight on Tuesday evening as most of the rest of the enormous city was plunged into darkness.

The clip shows a large number of magnificent flashes stretching into the night sky.

But viewers who see the video for the first time could be forgiven for believing that an immense nuclear battle was underway.

The scenes would be equally at home in a Star Wars movie depicting a fierce light-sabre showdown in outer space.

But experts came forward after the storm to point out that the explosions were caused by electrical transformers exploding.

Under attack? The intense explosions that could bee seen for miles around lasted for 30 minutes and resembled scenes from an outer-space battle

Powerful: Darkness engulfs the city as hundreds of transformers suffer power surges due to the amount of electricity caused by the lightning

Transformers are found around the U.S. for passing electrical energy from one circuit to another.

They allow electrical voltage to be increased as it travels across a city through long distances of wires or cabling.

During a storm, lightning strikes cause a surge in electricity along the lines. The transformers cannot handle this and explode.

The video of the explosions has now become popular on the video-sharing website YouTube.

One user wrote: 'Wow, that's impressive. It looks like a light show from a concert.'

Storm: At time, three or four of the explosions happened at the same time, prompting some online viewers to suggest that the scene resembled an alien invasion

Another added: 'lost my dog because of this storm, he hates thunder and it gives him anxiety attacks so much that he found a way to get out of the back yard before I could bring him inside.'



One joked: 'I feel sorry for the 911 operators knowing how some people are. ''There are lights in the sky! what do I do?'

However, the video had prompted more mysterious explanations with some viewers to suggest that the explosions were actually caused by a secret alien invasion.

Dozens of users pointed out strange floating objects in the sky hovering above the flashes.

One internet user stated: 'Transformers do not continue to blow up one after another for 30 minutes ...Doesn't anyone see what's going on here - Osama's dead, cue the Alien Invasion.'

Fort Worth is the sixteenth-largest city in the United States of America and the fifth-largest city in the state of Texas.