by CIO Staff

Large Section of Tokyo Hit by Power Outage

News
Aug 14, 20061 min
Security

A large part of Tokyo and neighboring Chiba prefecture was hit by a power outage on Monday morning.

The power failed at around 7:30 a.m., which is the height of the Monday-morning rush hour. But the effect was less serious than it could have been, as this is a holiday week in Japan.

About 800,000 homes and businesses lost power, several hundred traffic signals were blacked out, train services on some above-ground and subway lines were stopped, and elevators stopped between floors, according to local news reports. The Tokyo Stock Exchange began trading at 9 a.m. on schedule, and power had been restored to most areas by 9:30 a.m.

The cause of the outage was determined by Tokyo Electric Power to be a floating crane that hit high-tension cables across the Kyu-Edogawa river in the eastern part of the city.

-Martyn Williams, IDG News Service (Tokyo Bureau)

Check out our CIO News Alerts and Tech Informer pages for more updated news coverage.