Hsieh points out that Yushan is in a "lightning zone" and that in summer lightning is particularly frequent. The most serious incident took place in April 2003, when 90 % of power and communications and meteorological instruments were taken out by a strike. Then the repair skills of the station team came into play. They managed to make sufficient repairs to transmit a message requesting specialist repair staff be dispatched immediately.
謝新添表示，玉山屬於「雷區」，夏天經常打雷，最嚴重的一次是二○○三年四月，轟然一聲春雷，百分之九十的電力、通訊、儀器都遭雷擊毀壞，這時駐守人員的基本維修技能就派上用場，讓設備勉強維持運作，再通知廠商上山搶修。