Dec. 27 (Bloomberg) -- The Hawaiian island of Oahu, where President-elect Barack Obama and his family are spending a 12- day vacation, has experienced a widespread power interruption.

Obama was at a $9 million beachfront rental home in Kailua, Hawaii, when the island lost power at about 7 p.m. local time yesterday. Hawaiian Electric Co., the Honolulu-based utility, set up an emergency generator for Obama’s beach house, the Associated Press reported.

Hawaiian Electric had restored service to more than 113,000 people as of 6 a.m. today, according to a report on Honolulu radio station KSSK. Communities on the east side of the island remained without electricity into early today.

Electric company officials said a lightning strike sent a power surge through its network, shutting down generators and causing the outage, the Honolulu Advertiser reported on its Web site. Restoring power could take as much as 12 hours, the newspaper reported.

Obama and his family are vacationing in Hawaii, near his childhood home of Honolulu, before he takes office on Jan. 20. Earlier yesterday, Obama took his daughters, Malia, 10, and Sasha, 7, to an amusement park and to get shaved ice.

To contact the reporter on this story: Kim Chipman in Kailua, Hawaii, at kchipman@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: December 27, 2008 11:40 EST