A storm off Japan’s east coast remained a threat to the Tokyo Olympics on Tuesday (July 27), despite not battering the host city with devastating winds and rain as initially feared.
Wind and rain sweeping Tokyo Bay delayed the start of the women’s triathlon early in the morning, and the storm could threaten two medal games for softball later in the day, after organisers moved the surfing medal events a day earlier than scheduled to take advantage of the higher waves.
Tokyo was forecast to receive up 31.5 mm (1.2 inches) of rain over 24 hours from tropical storm Nepartak, now forecast to make landfall in the north early Wednesday, the Japan Meteorological Agency said. It was headed toward Sendai, 370 km (230 miles) up the coast from Tokyo, according to the Tropical Storm Risk monitoring site.
Although Tokyo was spared a predicted overnight deluge, Nepartak remained a tropical storm, able to pack winds up to 118 kph (73 mph), as it meandered off Japan’s east coast, rather than weakening to a tropical depression while ploughing northwest, as earlier forecast.
The storm had earlier disrupted the schedules of rowing, archery and surfing events. The men’s triathlon went ahead on Monday (July 26).
