A heavy thunderstorm that struck Tokyo and northern Kanagawa Prefecture on Tuesday afternoon caused a power outage that forced train passengers to walk on a railway track and a bullet-train line to shut down.
The outage, possibly caused by a lightning strike at around 4:30 p.m., left two trains stranded between stations on Tokyu Corp.'s Toyoko Line in Kawasaki, forcing passengers to walk on the track, Tokyu said. The line resumed services after about three hours.
Central Japan Railway Co. (JR Tokai) said it suspended shinkansen services between Shinagawa in Tokyo and Shin-Yokohama in Kanagawa at around 4:30 p.m. as rainfall exceeded the threshold of 60 mm per hour in Kawasaki. Services resumed after around 40 minutes.
The Meteorological Agency warned of record-breaking cloudbursts in Tokyo, estimating precipitation as high as 100 mm in an hour in Meguro and Setagaya wards.
The agency also forecast heavy rain in coastal areas along northeastern Honshu on through Thursday.