(Bloomberg) -- Japan’s biggest utility is struggling to return power to nearly a half million customers near Tokyo two days after the region was struck by a record-force storm.

Tepco had earlier aimed to restore by Wednesday all customers impacted by Typhoon Faxai’s strike Monday morning. But about 453,600 were still without power as of 10:29 a.m. local time, according to the company, officially known as Tokyo Electric Power Co. Holding Ltd.

“We can not say at the moment when we can finish restoration work,” spokesman Koki Okada said by phone. “The damage caused by the typhoon on transmission lines and poles is more serious than we originally estimated” and work was disrupted Tuesday night by thunderstorms, he said.

Wind speeds in Chiba prefecture, east of Tokyo, hit 57.5 meters per second (129 miles per hour) on Monday, according to the Japan Meteorological Agency. Faxai is the strongest typhoon to strike the Kanto region, which includes Tokyo, since current records started in 1991, according to Asahi Shimbun newspaper.

Of the total customers without power, 98% are in Chiba prefecture. The damage included two transmission towers that were knocked down by strong winds, impacting about 110,000 customers.

--With assistance from Stephen Stapczynski.

To contact the reporter on this story: Aya Takada in Tokyo at atakada2@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Ramsey Al-Rikabi at ralrikabi@bloomberg.net, Aaron Clark

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