Rain, hailstorm, snowfall lash J&K; temp falls
Gopal Sharma / Fayaz Bukhari
JAMMU/ SRINAGAR, Nov 27: While heavy rain and hailstorm in plains and snowfall on the higher reaches brought sharp fall in temperature, the Jammu-Srinagar National Highway was blocked due to land slides at four places between Ramban and Banihal this evening.
Kashmir valley was lashed by heavy rain and hills had fresh snowfall during the past 24 hours leading to closure of Srinagar-Leh highway and Mughal Road today. The snowfall across Kashmir has further led to drop in temperature across the region.
With the closure of highway in Ramban sector and snowfall in Jawahar Tunnel area of Pir Panjal, over 1500 vehicles were said to have been stranded on both sides of the Tunnel including Udhampur, Banihal, Ramban, Chenani, Nashri, Qazigund and Lower Munda areas. About 100 passenger light Motor vehicles were stranded in Ramban sector.
IGP Traffic, J&K, Alok Kumar told the Excelsior that since the rain continued in Ramban and Banihal areas besides other parts of the region throughout the day today, at round 5 pm, the major landslide occurred at Mompassi near Ramsu causing major road blockade. He said shooting stones at Panthyal, Anokhi Fall, Digdol and Nashri later resulted into more landslides.
Kumar said since road turned slippery due to snowfall in Jawahar Tunnel area this evening, the movement of vehicles was also suspended in Banihal-Qazigund section as well. It was nearly 6-7 inch snowfall near JT late this evening, while at Pir ki Gali on Mughal Road, more than one ft snowfall was experienced this evening. Earlier, nearly 250 vehicles crossed towards Shopian from Rajouri and Poonch side, he added.
“In Ramban area about 50-60 LMVs, while in Chanderkote and Nashri area about 150 trucks were stranded. Between Ramban and Udhampur, there were nearly 500 trucks/ load carriers while no movement of heavy vehicles was allowed today from Kashmir to Jammu side. The movement of light vehicles from Qazigund side towards Jammu was stopped at around 1 pm. Therefore, mostly up convoy vehicles were stranded on the highway,” the IG added.
The chopper service from base camp Katra to Mata Vaishnodevi ji shrine remained suspended nearly throughout the day due to bad weather, while pilgrimage remained smooth along both the tracks of Bhawan despite rain. Reasi-Mahore, Mahore-Gool and Chassana roads have been closed due to landslides and snowfall. However, Batote-Kishtwar road remained operational during the day today, sources said .
Besides heavy rain, hailstorm hit Jammu city late this evening and many parts of the region while reports of crop damage have also been received from some areas. The power supply to Jammu city and many parts of Rajouri, Udhampur, Poonch, Reasi, Kathua and Doda has been affected. Thannamandi area of Rajouri was without power supply since last evening after lightning damaged electricity lines. Water logging on Jammu city roads affected the smooth movement of traffic.
Meanwhile, one Shah Nawaz, son of Ghulam Nabi, resident of Gundi Bagga in Mahore (Reasi) and Anwar Begum (55), wife of Gulam Mohd, resident of Tota Morha in Behrote (Rajouri) were injured in two separate incidents of lightning today. Both have been hospitalized at Reasi and Rajouri.
A met official said that Jammu recorded a maximum 19.9 Degree Celsius and minimum 14.2 deg C temperature, Katra maximum 17.6 deg C and minimum 12.2 deg C, Bhaderwah maximum 10.4 deg C and minimum 3.2 deg c while Batote town had maximum 10.2 deg C and minimum 4.3 deg C temperature.
The maximum temperature in Srinagar, where 23.6 mm rainfall was recorded since Tuesday, fell to 6.1 deg C against the normal temperature of 12.1 deg C during this season. The minimum temperature at Srinagar was 2.7 deg C. He said the night temperature in most parts of the region settled above average, except in Leh, which recorded the lowest minimum temperature of minus 7.3 deg C.
The official further said that famous tourist resort, Gulmarg recorded nearly 8 inches of snowfall, Tangmarg 4 inches, Z-Gali 8 inches and Sadna Top about 4 inches. More than 1.5 ft snow had accumulated at Zojila since last night leading to the closure of Srinagar-Leh highway. The BRO had cleared the road yesterday and the traffic was to ply from today but the heavy snowfall during night led to closure of the highway again. The road is closed since November 21 and some vehicles have been stranded at Kargil and Drass.
Director Meteorology, J&K, sonum Lotus told the ‘Excelsior’ that heavy rain will continue in the region for the next 12 hours and the hills will be lashed by heavy snowfall. He said there will be significant improvement in weather by tomorrow.
Lotus further disclosed that there will be no major activity of rain and snowfall in the region till December 10 and weather will mostly remain dry during the period.
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