Boston Police Commissioner Edward F. Davis said today that the evacuation of thousands of people from the Esplanade Wednesday night, which interrupted the annual Boston Pops concert and slightly delayed the fireworks display, went off smoothly.

Looking back, he said, he felt the evacuation -- which included moving some revelers into the Storrow Drive tunnels -- was necessary to ensure people’s safety from an approaching thunderstorm.

“Last night was a good test of our system. It was a way to show that, in fact, the system works, and if something very serious would have happened there, we could safely move large numbers of people out of the danger area,” he said at a news conference at police headquarters. “So we’re very happy.”

State Police spokesman David Procopio said State Police had moved concertgoers to the Storrow Drive tunnels several years ago on another stormy July Fourth.

“The decision to evacuate was the prudent one, made in the interest in the safety of the thousands upon thousands of visitors,” he said in today’s editions of The Boston Globe.

Lightning did strike — but about 2 ½ miles away in South Boston, injuring two people.