Typhoon Faxai possibly damages over 20,000 houses in Chiba Pref.

CHIBA. KAZINFORM A powerful typhoon that hit the Tokyo metropolitan area earlier this month is likely to have damaged at least 20,000 houses in Chiba Prefecture, local government officials said Tuesday.

The tally was far larger than the roughly 4,000 that the Chiba prefectural government officially announced earlier Tuesday, Kyodo News reports.

A Chiba prefectural official said the number of houses damaged by Typhoon Faxai may increase because local authorities have yet to find out details about affected areas as they have been busy dealing with power cuts and evacuated people.

As of Tuesday, About 64,000 households in the prefecture, east of Tokyo, were without power.

Earlier Tuesday, many elementary and junior high schools in the prefecture reopened after a weeklong closure due to widespread blackouts caused by the typhoon.

In Yachimata, all 13 public elementary and junior high schools reopened, although around 6,000 households remained without electricity. Three elementary schools secured electricity from power generator vehicles.

Fourteen schools were still unable to restart classes, according to local officials. As of Friday morning, about 100 schools had been closed.

Industry minister Isshu Sugawara told a press conference Tuesday that electricity is expected to be restored almost completely by Sept. 27.

The typhoon has also caused about 26.7 billion yen ($247 million) in damage to the agriculture and fisheries industries in the prefecture, up 7.3 billion yen from the level tallied last Friday, according to the Chiba government.