Maharashtra: 5 devotees rescued from temple in middle of swollen Wainganga river in Bhandara

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Five persons were rescued from a temple located in the middle of a river where they were stranded after water levels rose due to heavy rains in Maharashtra's Bhandara district on Tuesday, an official said on Tuesday.

The water level of Wainganga river rose to 243.60 meters amid heavy rains in the area and five persons who were at a temple got stranded, District Disaster Management Officer Abhishek Naamdas said.

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The district search and rescue team reached the scene this morning and brought out the stranded persons safely after efforts of more than two hours, he said.

Devotees had been in the temple since Saturday and were unaware of the rising water levels, the official said.

Meanwhile, several parts of Vidarbha in Maharashtra are likely to receive light to moderate rainfall this week, the Meteorological Department said in a weather bulletin.

The weather department has also issued a 'Yellow' alert for July 13 to July 15 for several parts of Vidarbha including Nagpur, Wardha, Bhandara, Gondia, Chandrapur, Gadchiroli, Amravati, Akola, Yavatmal and Washim.

Meanwhile, The weather forecast for July 11, predicts light to moderate rainfall in Mumbai and its suburbs. Residents are advised to take necessary precautions and plan their activities accordingly.

Mumbai received 31.17 per cent of the annual average rainfall of 2,547 mm till Monday morning, Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation said in a report. The India Meteorological Department's (IMD) Mumbai centre declared the onset of monsoon in the country's financial capital on June 25, late by about a fortnight. According to the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation's (BMC) report, the IMD Mumbai has recorded 1,043.8 mm rainfall at its Santacruz observatory (representative of suburbs) and 658.7 mm rainfall at the Colaba observatory (representative of the island city) in the last 15 days.

The downpour recorded at the Santacruz observatory is 37.49 per cent of the average annual rainfall of 2,784 mm and the figure at the Colaba observatory is 28.52 per cent of the average rainfall of 2,310 mm, according to the report.

During the same period last year, the Santacruz and Colaba observatories recorded 1,106.6 mm and 1,015.1 mm rainfall, respectively.

(with PTI inputs)