Christmas Snowstorm in Hokkaido, Japan... Large-Scale Power Outages and Fatal Accidents

On the 24th, a citizen was clearing snow piled up in a parking lot in Kitami City, Hokkaido, Japan. Amid record-breaking heavy snowfall across Japan, Hokkaido Electric Power announced on the 25th that a power outage occurred in 19,500 households, mainly in the northern region of Hokkaido. Photo by Reuters·Yonhap News

As heavy snowfall continues in Hokkaido, the northernmost part of the Japanese archipelago, Kyodo News reported that large-scale power outages occurred consecutively even on Christmas Day, the 25th.

Hokkaido Electric Power announced that around 19,500 households, mainly in the northern region of Hokkaido, experienced power outages as of 9 a.m. that day. In Monbetsu City, Hokkaido, a transmission tower collapsed on the 23rd, causing power outages in 13,000 households throughout the city, resulting in a total of 26,000 households in Hokkaido experiencing outages.

Although power supply was restored in the afternoon of the previous day, a large-scale power outage occurred again at around 9:20 a.m. affecting approximately 12,000 households in Monbetsu City. The specific cause of the outage has not been disclosed.

Fatal accidents due to snow also occurred. Around noon the previous day, an elderly woman in her 80s was found dead near the entrance of her home in Engaru Town, Hokkaido, buried in snow. The police are investigating the cause of death, suspecting she was buried under a pile of snow that fell from the roof.

Earlier, around 6 p.m. on the 23rd, a woman in her 70s was found dead buried in snow next to her home in Bibai City, Hokkaido. The Meteorological Agency stated that although the peak of the heavy snowfall has passed, caution is still needed for frozen roads and avalanches, especially in northern Japan.

Meanwhile, over a 24-hour period until the morning of the 24th, record-breaking snowfall was recorded mainly in the Sea of Japan region, with 97 cm in Oguni Town, Yamagata Prefecture, and 81 cm in Sekikawa Village, Niigata Prefecture. Additionally, snowfall of 60 cm is expected in the central Hokuriku region and 40 cm in the Kanto-Koshin region, including Hokkaido and the Tokyo metropolitan area, over the 24 hours until 6 p.m. on the 25th.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.