A burning 13,000-volt electrical line led to a massive outage that cut power to more than 72,000 customers, leaving one of the nation’s most densely-populated neighborhoods in darkness for five hours. A utility official said Monday that a “routine” manhole fire preceded an “extremely unique” failure of a protection system designed to keep the problem […]

The threat of torrential rains last weekend, with 13 inches expected, prompted Japanese authorities to issue a directive advising residents of southern Japan to move to designated shelters to avoid landslides and dangerous flooding conditions. The Fire and Disaster Management Agency reported that 820 shelters had been prepared in the hopes of avoiding another catastrophe […]