Seven people were rescued unharmed in Aomori Prefecture Sunday morning after flash floods at two separate rivers left them temporarily stranded on sandbars, police said.
According to local police, six people who were fishing were safely evacuated from a sandbar in the Oirase River in the town of Fukaura at around 12:30 p.m. A local resident had notified authorities of the trouble at around 9:30 a.m. and a helicopter was dispatched to the scene, police said.
Meanwhile, a man who was stranded while fishing for sweetfish in the Akaishi River in Ajigasawa in the prefecture was also rescued by a police helicopter around 11 a.m.
Police said heavy rains upstream early Sunday likely triggered the flash floods.