Beiruting News

Amid struggles with COVID-19, the Tokyo Olympics is facing a fresh threat: a typhoon hitting Japan.

Coming during a spate of wild weather across the world, with 11 people dying in the UK as the country battles temperatures over 30C, experts are concerned about a possible storm hitting Japan next week and potentially affecting the Olympics.

Early today, July 23, a depression in the Philippine Sea formed north-northeast of Guam and the Mariana Islands, predicted to move north this weekend before turning towards Japan’s mainland, where it could develop into a tropical storm.

‘While it’s still too early to have high confidence in the exact track and intensity of this system, there are early indications that it could threaten Tokyo later Monday or Tuesday, local time,’ AccuWeather meteorologist Jake Sojda told the Mirror Online.

‘The greatest impact to the Games would obviously come from a direct hit on Tokyo, where the majority of venues and events are located. Even if the storm tracks farther north or south of Tokyo, there are some venues located farther away from the greater Tokyo metroplex that could still be impacted,’ he said, while assuring that events on the island Hokkaido are unlikely to be affected.

‘Any tropical development making landfall in Japan as the games persist could spell trouble – and possibly even the postponement of some events,’ Sojda added.