Air Force Col. Richard McElhaney, commander of the 374th Airlift Wing, restocks milk at the commissary on Yokota Air Base, Japan, on Aug. 9, 2024, after a lightning strike caused a power outage that ruined about $50,000 in food products. (U.S. Air Force)
YOKOTA AIR BASE, Japan — Another lightning strike at this airlift hub in western Tokyo knocked out power to the base commissary, causing the overnight loss of at least $50,000 in perishable food.
The lightning strike around 11:30 p.m. Aug. 6 during another torrid summer thunderstorm cut power to the Yokota Community Center, which houses the base exchange, food court and commissary, Keith Desbois, a spokesman for Defense Commissary Agency, said via email Saturday.
“Commissaries are not unique to any other activity on an installation when it comes to power outages,” he wrote. “That said, because we have perishable products, we have processes such as backup generators to help us protect those items if an outage occurs.”
However, the backup generator failed, and the commissary was without power for seven hours before the 374th Civil Engineer Squadron could respond to the late-shift employees’ call for assistance, Desbois said.
As a result, Yokota public health inspectors deemed much of the chilled products — meat, milk and eggs — and all the ice cream unsafe for consumption due to the length of time the power was out, Desbois said.
Shoppers arriving early Aug. 7 were met with empty shelves and advised that some produce and prepared foods, such as salads, sandwiches and sushi, were also ruined. Employees managed to restock most of the empty shelves by Thursday.
“We try to prepare for most emergencies that could arise, but sometimes events occur that are beyond our control,” Desbois said. “This is one of those events. We will be looking into the cause of the generator failure with the goal of preventing this type of instance from happening in the future.”
Airmen restock dairy items at the commissary on Yokota Air Base, Japan, on Aug. 9, 2024, after a lightning strike caused a power outage that ruined about $50,000 in food products. (U.S. Air Force)
Yokota has been inconvenienced twice by lightning so far this summer.
On July 22, a fierce thunderstorm knocked out power to the east and central areas of the base. That outage and a subsequent reset of residential air conditioning units left some base occupants without air conditioning for nearly two days during the relentless Tokyo summer.
Thunderstorms are occurring more frequently within 10 nautical miles of Yokota this year compared to last year, Master Sgt. Nathaniel Allen, a spokesman for the 374th Airlift Wing, said via email Monday.
“Lightning, particularly cloud-to-ground strikes, can occur anywhere and often goes unnoticed unless it impacts a prominent structure,” he said. “The perception that lightning hits the base more frequently may be due to the attention such strikes receive when they impact base facilities.”
A lightning strike on July 4, 2023, extinguished the lights that control vehicular traffic across the south end of Yokota’s runway. Repairs to the obsolete system required innovation and more than a month of effort.
