A raised construction crane on a barge moving downriver hit high tension lines Monday morning in Edogawa Ward, Tokyo, causing blackouts in the capital and neighboring prefectures for nearly three hours that brought rush-hour transportation to a halt.
The power failure, which occurred at about 7:38 a.m., affected approximately 1.39 million households and offices in areas that included Ota, Setagaya and Minato wards as well as parts of Chiba and Kanagawa prefectures, according to Tokyo Electric Power Co.
Tepco managed to reroute its electricity supply to Tokyo from other facilities, and power was restored to all affected areas by 10:44 a.m., the utility said.