Crane accident sparks massive power cuts across Tokyo

business-times.asia1.com.sg :

A power outage plunged much of Tokyo into chaos for about three hours, darkening offices, trapping people in elevators and disrupting transport and computer systems. The outage, caused when a construction crane on a boat hit power lines, started around 7.40 am as offices were opening and commuters were heading for work.

A Tokyo Electric Power Co spokesman said over 1.39 million homes were affected. Traffic lights went off in at least 440 places. Tokyo subway authorities said about 120,000 passengers were affected. The Tokyo Stock Exchange was trading as usual, but calculations of the Nikkei 225 index were frozen due to a system error related to the power cut. Foreign exchange traders at several banks said they were unable to conduct business because of computer problems.

The severed power lines are part of a massive grid serving the 35 million inhabitants of the Tokyo metropolitan region, which includes the cities of Yokohama and Chiba. The last time Tokyo had a similar blackout was in November 1999, when electricity was cut to some 800,000 households after a Japanese military plane hit power lines.

(2006-08-15 23:59:25 SGT) [Energy] Permalink

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