Chiba Rain Closes 19 Lawson, 17 FamilyMart and Over Ten 7-Eleven Stores; LaLaport Has Brief Outage
Heavy rain in Chiba Prefecture from the night of August 13 forced dozens of convenience stores and supermarkets to suspend operations. Lawson closed 19 stores, FamilyMart closed 17, and 7-Eleven shut more than ten outlets. At LaLaport TOKYO-BAY in Funabashi, about 20 employees stayed overnight because they could not get home, and the mall suffered a brief power outage before reopening all but four stores. Two Aeon supermarkets remained closed pending equipment checks. No casualties were reported.
Heavy rainfall hit Chiba Prefecture from the night of August 13 into the early hours of August 14, causing flooding in some areas. As a result, employees at a major shopping mall were unable to return home and spent the night on site, while a number of supermarkets and convenience stores were forced to suspend operations because of water damage.
At LaLaport TOKYO-BAY, a large shopping mall in Funabashi operated by Mitsui Fudosan, about 20 employees could not go home because of the heavy rain and stayed overnight at the facility on the night of August 13, which also experienced a brief power outage. On August 14, the mall resumed normal operations except for four stores.
As of 8 a. m. on August 14, 19 Lawson stores in Chiba Prefecture had suspended operations because of water damage among other reasons; 7-Eleven had more than ten stores closed at the same time; and FamilyMart had 17 stores temporarily closed as of 9 a. None of the convenience store chains reported any casualties. Deliveries of goods were delayed in some areas because of partial road closures. As of 10 a. , two Aeon supermarkets remained closed pending equipment checks in connection with lighting failures and other issues.
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