The Japanese Meteorological Agency throughout the week issued heat stroke alerts around the country, including the region that includes the greater Tokyo metropolitan area. (Kelly Agee/Stars and Stripes)
YOKOTA AIR BASE, Japan — Some residents of this airlift hub in western Tokyo were left without air conditioning for nearly two days in peak summer heat after a powerful storm swept through the area.
Electricity went out across the east and main areas of the base during the prolonged Monday night storm, Capt. Emma Quirk, a 374th Air Wing spokeswoman, told Stars and Stripes via email the next day. The storm delivered a burst of torrential rain and a barrage of lightning that knocked out power on base around 10:30 p.m.
The 374th Civil Engineer Squadron had power and air conditioning back online for some households.
On Tuesday, the engineers reset some air-conditioning units, but those units can be temperamental, Quirk said. That meant some housing units were without air conditioning until Wednesday, according to posts on the Yokota Community Facebook page.
By 4 p.m. Wednesday, the civil engineers had restored the last unit, Quirk said in an email that day.
Meanwhile, the Tokyo summer lived up to its reputation. Temperatures climbed into the mid- to high-90s and humidity hovered at 70%, according to AccuWeather.com.
The Japanese Meteorological Agency throughout the week issued heat stroke alerts around the country, including the region that includes the greater Tokyo metropolitan area.
Air Force spouse Rikii Lash lost power in her west side home for only 30 seconds at around 10 p.m. Monday, she told Stars and Stripes via Facebook Messenger on Wednesday. The air conditioning, however, went out and stayed out until Tuesday evening.
Lash, of Pocahontas, Ark., said she was most worried about her cats Jiji and Jiraiya overheating.
“Our house hit 87 degrees,” she said. “We went and bought an air-conditioning unit … so our cats were not suffering. They were panting and sprawled out on the wood floors just to get cool. It was far cooler outside than inside. The humidity rose so bad it was suffocating, the floors all felt wet, and the air was so thick we looked like we had just finished taking a bath.”
