TOKYO - Record-breaking winds struck Tokyo on Sunday, beaching a tanker, toppling trees, halting trains and injuring at least 14 people in and near the capital, police and weather officials said.
Winds gusting up to 144 km (90 miles) per hour hit Tokyo -- the highest speed since records began in 1964, the Meteorological Agency said.
Most of the injured were in Chiba prefecture, east of the capital, where wind speeds were as high as 170 km per hour.
A 460-tonne chemical tanker, the Kissho Maru, ran aground on the coast of Chiba prefecture during the storm, but no one was injured and there were no reports of leaks, Kyodo news agency said.
The gales temporarily knocked out power to 32,000 homes in Chiba prefecture, but figures had not yet been collated for other parts of the region, a spokesman for Tokyo Electric Power Co. said. All but a few hundred households had power restored within a few hours, he added.
One railway line was blocked after a tree fell on a train in central Tokyo without causing injuries. Services were restored on this and most other lines within a few hours.
About 55 flights to and from Tokyo's Haneda and Narita airports were cancelled, public broadcaster NHK said.
The aftermath of the storm brought record high temperatures for the normally chilly month of December to some areas of Japan, NHK said.
REUTERS NEWS SERVICE
