OSAKA -- A large-scale power outage affected some 34,000 households as well as some facilities such as hospitals in Osaka Prefecture on Aug. 23.

At around 5:40 a.m. on Aug. 23, a power failure occurred in Suita, Osaka Prefecture, and surrounding areas. Power supplies were cut off to around 34,000 households in the city as well as Higashiyodogawa Ward in the city of Osaka and the city of Settsu, according to Kansai Electric Power Co. (KEPCO).

Of the households affected by the trouble, 29,518 are in Suita, 4,819 are in Higashiyodogawa and five are in Settsu.

The Suita mayor and top officials of the municipal government held an emergency meeting on Aug. 23 to consider how to respond to the situation.

Power supply was subsequently resumed to many households, but about 2,420 households in Suita were still left without power as of 12:30 p.m.

KEPCO pointed to the possibility that there were problems with underground power cables in Suita's Takashirocho district.

According to local police, some of the traffic lights in Suita went out, forcing police officers to manually control traffic along main streets in the city, such as National Route 479.

At around 5:40 a.m., prefectural police received a report saying that a strange noise was heard near the Takashirocho district. Officers found that a manhole cover was dislodged. Police are investigating a possible link between the displaced cover and the power failure. Nobody was reported injured.

Power supply resumed but then failed again at Saiseikai Suita Hospital, which has an emergency medical center, from early in the morning, forcing the hospital to transfer patients who need to undergo a dialysis to another institution.

A woman and a 7-year-old girl were temporarily trapped inside elevators at separate apartment complexes in Suita before being rescued by firefighters, city officials said. Water supply was cut off to some high-rise apartment complexes in the city.

The Suita factory of Asahi Breweries, Ltd. was forced to temporarily suspend its operations.