WHITBY, Ont. – Seventeen people have been hospitalized with non-life-threatening injuries after a lightning strike at a food festival in Whitby, Ont.

“Everyone had gone under the tent because it was raining,” witness Shannon Hayman told CityNews.

“It seemed like there was a big pop, like fireworks went off under the tent. People weren’t sure what was going on, but then people were on the ground, crying and screaming. Other people started running out,” she said.

Event chair Colin O’Regan says the lightning hit a dining tent holding several hundred people at the Whitby Ribfest around 2:30 p.m.

He says emergency officials arrived on the scene within minutes and sent 17 people to two local hospitals.

O’Regan says the lightning storm “came out of nowhere” and that there was no prior sign the weather was about to change.

He says emergency officials at the festival were aware the area was under a severe thunderstorm watch, but thought it wasn’t a risk at the time.

He says the festival has been closed early as a result of the lightning strike.