The hospital, owned by Nashville, Tenn.-based HCA Holdings and part of HCA West Florida, was hit by lightning between 6 p.m. and 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, causing a fire in the generator room and a power outage, according to the Tampa Bay Business Journal.
The hospital couldn’t operate safely on backup power, and law enforcement and rescue crews responded to help hospital staff evacuate patients. The evacuation was completed by 1:00 a.m. Thursday. The patients were taken to other hospitals in the area, according to a WFLA news report.
No patients were injured in the incident, according to the hospital’s Facebook page. Surgeries scheduled for Thursday at the hospital have been canceled.
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