Tropical storm dumps rain on northern Japan, spares Olympics
A tropical storm was bringing strong winds and heavy rain to Japan’s northern coast with little of the disruption to the Olympics that had been feared
A tropical storm brought strong winds and heavy rain to Japan's northern coast Wednesday after moving away from the Tokyo region and relieving the Olympic host city of a feared disruption to the games.
So far, Nepartak has caused no damage, but the Japan Meteorological Agency urged residents to take caution against mudslides. The storm had winds of 65 kilometers per hour (40 mph) and was expected to weaken and move off the western coast of Akita by Wednesday night.
Nepartak, the season's eighth typhoon for Japan, was near the city of Ishinomaki in Miyagi prefecture on Wednesday morning, the agency said. Ishinomaki is about 400 kilometers (250 miles) northeast of Tokyo.
Nepartak was the first landfall in Miyagi prefecture since 1951 when the weather agency started compiling typhoon statistics. Miyagi was part of the northeastern region deeply devastated by the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami.
The storm was moving northwest at about 30 kph (18 mph) and up to 10 centimeters (4 inches) of rain was forecast across the northern region in the next 24 hours.
It moved further north than initially projected, causing only limited impact on the Olympics, with some events such as surfing and rowing rescheduled. Tuesday’s women’s soccer match in Miyagi prefecture was held as scheduled.
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Associated Press writer Mari Yamaguchi contributed to this report from Tokyo.