lightning Strike Causes Power Outages at Okinawa Malls
A powerful lightning strike on September 26th around 3:30 PM caused a critically important power outage affecting AEON Mall Okinawa Rycom and AEON Chatan stores. The incident occurred during a period of heavy rain and thunderstorms. Okinawa Electric Power Company confirmed that lightning struck a power distribution facility, leading to the disruption.
The Rycom store had power restored around 4:15 PM, while the Chatan store was forced to close approximately 30 minutes after the outage began. shoppers at both locations were safely guided outside by staff during the event.
According to Oki Electric Railway, the power failure impacted both the Rycom (Kitanakagusuku Village) and chatan (mihama) locations at 3:39 PM. Power was eventually restored to mihama at 4:46 AM the following day,and to Rycom at 6:10 AM.
An Aeon Ryukyu spokesperson stated that the Rycom store managed to continue operations with manual registers while monitoring the situation. One shopper at Rycom described being evacuated and then encountering traffic congestion when trying to leave the parking lot due to an accident. She was able to return to shopping once power was restored.
An employee from a tenant store at Rycom noted that only customers were evacuated, with staff remaining inside. They reported that customers remained calm and followed announcements. The power outage also led to the suspension of movie screenings at Rycom cinemas and a temporary halt to event activities.While the concession stand was closed, some screenings resumed later in the evening for those with advance tickets.
A visitor to the Chatan store reported that some lights remained on initially, but the air conditioning ceased functioning about 30 minutes after the outage. Store employees informed customers that the mall would be closing due to the inability to operate cash registers and other essential equipment.