Photo/Illutration Vehicles are seen stranded in Kashiwazaki, Niigata Prefecture, on Dec. 20. (Ikuro Aiba)

Hundreds of drivers were left stranded in Kashiwazaki in Niigata Prefecture overnight after a snowstorm blanketed the Hokuriku region, causing power outages and snarling public transportation. 

About 770 vehicles were stuck on the roads as of 1 a.m. on Dec. 20 between the center of Kashiwazaki and the Hokuriku Expressway Yoneyama Interchange, while 34 cars were stranded in another part of the city.

Gridlock continued for hours into the morning.

Hiroto Yamasaki, 27, a truck driver, loaded 13 tons of rice in Joetsu in the prefecture at around noon on Dec. 19.

He was on his way to Okayama Prefecture when thick snowflakes started falling. Soon, he could barely see the road ahead of him, he said.

“The next thing you know, the traffic stopped and there was nothing I could do,” Yamasaki said.

He took a five-minute walk to the nearest convenience store to use the restroom and get something to eat.

In the city of Nagaoka, drivers on a national road covered in about 1 meter of snow found themselves barely moving along.

The transport ministry dispatched 24 staff members to help stranded drivers in Kashiwazaki, Nagaoka and Mitsuke in the prefecture.

At 5:05 a.m., the prefectural government asked the Self-Defense Forces to send members to the prefecture as disaster relief.

The government also announced that four cities--Kashiwazaki, Nagaoka, Ojiya and Uonuma--would be subject to the Disaster Relief Law.

The Japan Meteorological Agency said the snowstorm that hit some prefectures on the Sea of Japan side, particularly Niigata, was “massive for the start of the season.”

In Kashiwazaki, for example, there was no snow as of 11 a.m. on Dec. 18.

By 6 p.m. on Dec. 19, however, there was 90 centimeters of snow. It was 85 cm at 9 a.m. on Dec. 20, or about 30 times more than seen in an average year.

Thousands of households in Kashiwazaki, Sado and Nagaoka lost power due to the snow, according to Tohoku Electric Power Co.

East Japan Railway Co. (JR East) suspended operations for many trains in the prefecture because the platforms and train cars needed to be cleared of snow.

As of 9 a.m. on Dec. 20, Yamato Transport Co. and Sagawa Express Co. suspended their delivery operations in and out of the prefecture.

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