Blackout hit four prefectures in western Japan on Thursday morning because of heavy snow, the Kansai Electric Co. Inc said.

The power line from a nuclear power station in the Fukui prefecture was hit by snow storm, which led to the halt of electricity transmission for about 40 minutes from 8:50 a.m.(GMT 2350 Wednesday) in prefectures of Osaka, Shiga, Kyoto and Nara.

More than 690,000 households were affected by the blackout in the region, the company said.

In addition, the Tohoku Electric Power Co. Inc said that power supply to about 650,000 households in the northwestern Niigata prefecture was shortly cut off early in the day.

Although investigation is under way, the company said it likely stemmed from the snow storm.

Electricity has not returned to about 170,000 households by 10:30 a.m.(GMT 0130).

Source: Xinhua