Rain lashes J&K, temperature drops
*Gulmarg receives season’s Ist snowfall
Gopal Sharma/
Fayaz Bukhari
JAMMU/SRINAGAR, Nov 10: The Jammu-Srinagar National Highway which was blocked after landslides near Ramban was restored late this evening while Mughal Road and Srinagar-Leh highway remained closed due to heavy snowfall in the high-altitude areas today while plains of the Jammu region experienced heavy rains, triggering cold wave conditions.
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Official sources said that the Jammu-Srinagar highway was closed for traffic due to mudslides at Mehar and Cafeteria Morh are in Ramban at around 9.30 am. Traffic was also suspended at Dalwas and two other points between Ramban and Banihal due to landslides. The highway was, however, restored at around 7.30 pm on Friday and stranded vehicles were allowed to move.
The heavy snowfall forced closure of the Mughal Road, Kishtwar-Sinthan Top- Anantnag and Bhaderwah-Chattergalla-Basohli-Pathankot roads today. These roads remains closed till late this evening while authorities are expecting restoration by tomorrow, if weather remained favourable.
“The highway was blocked for vehicular movement at Mehar in Ramban. All types of vehicular movement was stopped. Commuters are advised not to travel till proper restoration is carried out,” a Traffic police officer said.
More than 600 vehicles were stranded at various places enroute and have been asked to halt their vehicles at safe places. The light vehicles were allowed to move via Maitra through old rope bridge over Chenab at Ramban, he said.
The Mughal Road, which connects the twin districts of Poonch and Rajouri in Jammu with south Kashmir’s Shopian district, is closed for vehicular traffic for a second consecutive day in view of the snowfall between Poshana and Peer Ki Gali, they said.
Higher reaches of Kashmir witnessed fresh snowfall with Gulmarg receiving seasons first while Valley was lashed by heavy rains since last night leading to closure of some hilly roads.
An official said that the higher reaches of Kashmir, including Razdan Pass, Pir Ki Gali, Zojila Pass, Sonamarg, Gulmarg, Doodpathri, Kulgam and Machil, experienced snowfall while the plains were lashed by heavy rains.
“Due to the snowfall, several roads, including Razdan Pass, Zojila Pass, Kishtwar-Anantnag road, Phurkiyan Gali, Machil in Kupwara and Srinagar-Sonamarg road, were closed for traffic,” he said.
The upper reaches of Rajouri, Poonch, Reasi, Doda, Kishtwar, Udhampur, Ramban and Kathua experienced snowfall. The Banihal, Natha Top, Dudu and Sarthal areas also experienced season’s first snowfall.
In plains of the Jammu region, there was heavy rainfall since early hours of this morning thereby bringing down the temperature and triggering cold conditions. A significant drop in day temperature was experienced today in Jammu area. People took out woolens.
In Jammu city, heavy rains broke the month-long dry spell. However, the weather condition started improving in the afternoon.
Meanwhile, Gulmarg had the season’s first snowfall bringing cheer to the visiting tourists. One foot of snow accumulated in the Ski resort. A tourist who arrived in Gulmarg only yesterday afternoon woke up to a thick blanket of snow leaving him awestruck.
“We have been planning a visit to Kashmir for the last several years. It was nice to see the snowfall, it is mesmerising,” she said.
The MeT office forecasted fairly widespread rain in the plains and snowfall in the higher reaches of Kashmir over the next 24 hours, with a gradual decrease in precipitation anticipated from late Friday evening. It said that the weather is expected to remain dry with warm days from November 11 to 17.
Meanwhile, widespread rains disrupted normal life in Srinagar and its surrounding areas, causing a drop in temperature.
Low-lying roads in several areas were inundated due to rain waters. Residents of Natipora, Gopalpora, Dalgate, Sonawar, Khanyar and surrounding areas found themselves grappling with the aftermath of rain as the rainwater submerged the streets.
Srinagar settled at 6.3 degrees Celsius today with 17.5mm of rainfall, Qazigund at 5.0 degrees Celsius with 12.0 mm of rainfall, Pahalgam at 4.7 degrees Celsius with 6.4mm of rainfall, Kupwara at 4.2 degrees Celsius with 29.8mm of rainfall, Kokernag at 6.2 degrees Celsius with 5.8mm of rainfall, and Gulmarg recording a low of -1.5 degrees Celsius with 22.2mm of precipitation.
Meanwhile, Bhaderwah town in Doda district which got a major boost at the fag end of the tourist season after high altitude meadows received snowfall on October 15, is again expecting to get good fortunes as large number of tourists have started converging here to enjoy the fresh snowfall on Friday.
Visitors from different parts of the country were seen enjoying the white flakes on Bhaderwah-Pathankot highway since morning as on the interstate road heavy snowfall was reported on 25 KM stretch from Thantera to Chattargalla pass.
The tourists especially those on the Vaishno Devi pilgrimage are rushing here to enjoy the snow.
“We were at Vaishno Devi pilgrimage, there someone suggested us to visit Bhaderwah to experience the snowfall,” said Sanju, a tourist from Madhya Pradesh.
“We reached here last evening to witness clear blue sky and were demoralised to see the weather. To our pleasant surprise, we woke up to witnessed a mesmerizing view of the Valley covered in a white blanket. This is really heaven, one should visit here atleast once in lifetime,” Sanju added.
“This is my maiden tour of this valley, it was all of a sudden and without proper planning but this turned out to be the best voyage of my life. I’m experiencing snowfall first time in my life and the feeling is really heavenly,” said Rekha Ahirwal (26), tourist from Bhopal.
With the heavy rain across J&K and snowfall on the higher reaches, a sharp fall in the temperature has been experienced.
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