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TOKYO -- A major power cut hit Tokyo and the neighboring prefecture of Kanagawa on the evening of May 13, affecting up to around 69,000 households, Tokyo Electric Power Co. Holdings Inc. (TEPCO) said.

The blackout occurred at about 10:30 p.m., affecting around 67,600 households in the city of Yokohama and surrounding areas, and some 1,400 households in the neighboring city of Machida in Tokyo. Power was restored at around 5:20 a.m. on May 14. Officials said there was a high probability that an underground power cable had been damaged.

Because of the power cut, train services on the Odakyu Odawara Line between Mukogaoka-Yuen and Machida stations, and on the Odakyu Tama Line between Shin-Yurigaoka and Karakida stations were halted, affecting some 19,000 passengers.

According to Kanagawa Prefecture's Aoba Police Station, some traffic lights in its jurisdiction lost power, requiring officers to direct traffic.

Some 500 households in Chiba Prefecture east of Tokyo and Yamanashi Prefecture west of the capital also lost power around the same time due to a different cause, and power was restored to those households by the predawn hours of May 14.

(Japanese original by Kazuhiro Toyama and Ryo Endo, Tokyo City News Department, and Mayumi Nobuta, Tokyo Science & Environment News Department)

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