Traffic suspended, restored on NH
Fayaz Bukhari/
Gopal Sharma
SRINAGAR/ JAMMU, Mar 15: Rain and fresh snowfall lashed many parts of J&K last night while temperature experienced a sharp fall across Jammu region.
Kashmir Valley was lashed by rains for second consecutive day today while hills had fresh snowfall today and the authorities issued avalanche warning.
The Meteorological Department has forecast rainfall at isolated places in Kashmir tomorrow and light snowfall in hills.
The intermittent rains continued in Kashmir today that led to water logging at many places in Srinagar city. However, the authorities pressed the de-watering pumps into service.
Zojila and Sonamarg areas of Central Kashmir’s Ganderbal district received fresh snowfall. An official said that 5 inches of fresh snow has accumulated at Zojila and around 3 inches at Sonamarg.
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The Razdhan Pass in North Kashmir had around 1 ft snowfall today, Sadna Top 6 inches, Furkiyan Top 6 and Z-Gali 8 inches. Snowfall was also reported from Afarwat in Gulmarg, Peer Gali in Poonch and higher reaches of Bhaderwah.
Pahalgam in South Kashmir had 4 inches of snowfall, Kokernag 3 inches and Jawahar Tunnel around 5 inches. However, snow was cleared from Pahalgam and Jawahar Tunnel area.
Police said that at about 2 p.m, a minor avalanche hit Shitkari area of Sonamarg, Ganderbal trapping an employee of a construction company.
“An employee of APCO Construction Company Pvt Ltd namely, Dharam Prakash Singh son of Narender Bahadur resident of Premgadh Danigunj Uttar Pradesh (A/P Electrician of APCO Tunnel construction) got trapped”, said Police.
They said that Ganderbal Police sent a special team immediately to rescue the trapped person. The team rescued and evacuated him to safety.
Authorities issued a low-to-medium danger avalanche warning for hills of Kashmir. “On the basis of information received from SASE, medium danger avalanche warning has been issued for next 24 hrs for Kupwara-Chowkibal-Tanghdar, Baramulla, Gulmarg, Furkian-Z Gali, Gurez and Kargil,” an official said here.
“Low danger warning has been issued for Poonch, Rajouri, Reasi, Ramban,Doda, Bhaderwah, Kishtwar Udhampur, Anantnag, Kulgam, Budgam, Ganderbal, Bandipora, Leh districts and Srinagar-Jammu Highway,” he said.
People living in these areas have been advised by the disaster management authority to take precautionary measures.
Authorities in district Doda today ordered closure of all schools up to 8th standard and sounded a high alert in the entire Bhaderwah belt due to apprehension of avalanches after heavy rains since early morning.
In the wake of inclement weather predictions by the Meteorological department, Additional Deputy Commissioner (ADC) Bhaderwah Imam Din Kitchlo ordered closure of all schools up to 8th standard and appealed to general public not to venture in slide prone areas and near streams.
Giving details, Tehsildar, Bhaderwah, Masood Ahmed said, “The MeT department has predicted heavy rainfall and also issued avalanche warning, flash floods and mud slides in Bhaderwah. Considering the advisory, a holiday has been declared in schools so that children do not face any risk or inconvenience.”
“As a precautionary move, we have declared a high alert in areas close to river Neeru and also for people living on slopes and slide prone areas,” he said.
“It’s best to take precautionary steps than waiting for a tragedy to strike, as last year a college girl drowned in the flash floods near Puneja while trying to cross river Neeru,” he maintained.
The ADC has directed to all officers to be present at their respective headquarters and to remain in contact with the administration to deal with any emergent situation.
The traffic on Srinagar-Jammu National Highway was disrupted for more than two hours due to landslides and shooting stones at Marog and Panthial during morning hours. The Highway authorities cleared the slides and restored traffic at around 12 noon. Later, the weather improved and flow of traffic was smooth when the last reports came in here.
A Traffic official said that weather permitting, the traffic on the highway will ply from Jammu to Srinagar tomorrow.
“The weather along the NHW is partially cloudy. The commuters are advised to confirm status of the road from Traffic Control Units at Srinagar, Ramban, Jammu and PCR Jammu before starting journey on the NHW as chances of occurring of sudden landslides/shooting stones at vulnerable/landslide prone areas during night hours cannot be ruled out”, he said.
“Keeping in view the over all condition of the road, especially between Jawahar Tunnel and Ramban coupled with narrow width of the NHW at some places, allowing two way movement of vehicles on the NHW is not feasible”, he said.
“Therefore, subject to fair weather and good condition of the road, tomorrow movement of vehicles shall be allowed from Jammu towards Srinagar only. No movement of any vehicle shall be allowed from Srinagar towards Jammu”, he said.
“Commuters are requested/advised that vehicles are not parked in any landslide/ vulnerable/avalanche prone zones of NHW, especially from Jawahar Tunnel – Ramban and Jawahar Tunnel-Lower Munda under any circumstances. The said road stretches are vulnerable/slide prone zone and therefore should be kept free from all sorts of traffic to avoid any eventuality”, the official said.
Meanwhile, the rain during early hours today in Jammu areas and snowfall on the higher reaches of Doda, Poonch (Mughal Road), Reasi, Udhampur and Kishtwar has brought considerable fall in Jammu’s temperature. However, the weather remained sunny during afternoon in many parts of Jammu region. The water logging in several city crossing and low lying areas disrupted the smooth movement of vehicles.
A MeT spokesman said that Jammu recorded maximum temperature of 28.1 degree C while a day earlier it was 31 degree C. Banihal recorded a maximum 16.5 degree C and minimum 5.1 degree C, Bhaderwah town maximum 13.2 degree C and minimum 7.4 degree C, Batote maximum 11.1 degree C and minimum 3.6 degree C while holy township of Katra Mata Vaishnodevi maximum 23.8 degree C and minimum 9 degree C temperature today. The weatherman has predicted clear weather in most parts of Jammu region during next three days.
In many parts of Reasi, Katra and Udhampur there were reports of hailstorm during early morning hours. It appeared like light snowfall. Many Katra MataVaishnodevi pilgrims were seen enjoying this light snowfall and taking selfies along Jammu-Katra Road about 5 kms short of Katra town.
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