500 stranded devotees rescued from rain-hit Sathuragiri hills

Several hundreds of devotees from Madurai, Virudhunagar and Theni districts used to visit the Sathuragiri temple on New Moon and Full Moon days.

Nearly 500 devotees had trekked the Sathuragiri hills to offer worship at the temple during this New Moon Day on Tuesday.

However, after darshan at the temple they were unable to come down as heavy rains continuously lashed the region. The downpour also triggered flash floods in many jungle streams originating from the hills.

With the Mangani odai and Sangiliparai odai witnessing a sudden increase in the flow, devotees were stranded atop the hills on Tuesday night.

However, the situation eased on Wednesday after the flow subsided in the streams. Subsequently, the devotees were brought down safely in batches by the forest department personnel.

By evening, all the stranded persons were alighted. Meanwhile, the devotees who were unaware of the situation and came to visit the temple on Wednesday morning, were not allowed to climb up the hills.

The heavy and continuous downpour on Kodaikanal hills and in Western Ghats region resulted in heavy flow in Kumbakarai falls. As a precautionary measure, authorities closed the falls on Wednesday.

The falls was opened for tourists recently. Kodaikanal, a major tourist place in the State, has been receiving widespread rains in recent days leading to rise in storage in many reservoirs in Theni district, including the Sothuparai dam.