Nearly 400 Asian Games athletes evacuated as Japan floods continue
Floods force precautionary evacuation of athletes ahead of Nagoya Games
Dubai: The 2026 Asian Games are set to commence from tomorrow. While many athletes looked to prepare for the competition, a natural calamity has halted the preparations.
The host Japan is facing severe floods across the nation, with Typhoon Dolphins expected to hit parts of the country. This has also affected hundreds of Asian Games athletes who were briefly evacuated from their accommodation according to Al Jazeera.
Nagoya, the host city for the upcoming games, is currently facing record rainfall with about 104mm (4 inches) of rain on in an hour on Tuesday. The concerning amount of rain resulted in the municipal officials issuing an evacuation order for parts of the city.
The rainwater is reportedly leaking into some venues of the competition. Nagoya is also bracing more wet weather forecast in the coming days with a week left for the Asian Games to commence. Participants have no dedicated athletes village this year as they are currently living on a cruise ship, temporary wooden containers and hotels issued by the organizers.
Team India are preparing for their arrival in Nagoya by sleeping in shipping containers at their camps in Patiala and Bengaluru. The Al Jazeera report also claimed that "hundreds" of athletes staying at the Garden Pier area were told to move safety as per the Nagoya Port Authority.
However, the evacuation order was lifted two hours later. No athletes were harmed during the process according to Mayor Ichiro Hirosawa who had reassured everyone on Thursday of a problem-less Asian Games.
Hirosawa also added that nearly 400 athletes were briefly evacuated for precautionary measures. He ended by disclosing a number of leaks across the dozens of games venue but nothing was serious. The competition will host more than 17,000 athletes from Asia, which is a bigger number than the Olympics.
However, uncontrollable weather has ruined the plans of the organizers. The opening ceremony of the 2026 Asian Games will take place on 19th September with many events lie basketball already beginning a week earlier.
