Srinagar plunges into darkness, all flights cancelled
Gopal Sharma/Fayaz Bukhari
JAMMU/ SRINAGAR, Jan 3: Heavy rain across the region and massive snowfall in Jawahar Tunnel area besides land slides in Ramban sector led to the closer of busy Jammu-Srinagar National Highway last night while due to bad weather six flights were cancelled and four delayed at Jammu airport whereas, heavy snowfall has been witnessed again in Kashmir region today. Click here to watch video
Kashmir witnessed heavy snowfall today and the flights at Srinagar airport were cancelled whereas the Valley was plunged into darkness. There was widespread snowfall in Kashmir prompting the authorities to close the Srinagar-Jammu national highway, cancel flights to and from Srinagar airport and postpone class-11 board exams.
Official sources said with the fresh landslides at Seri, Marog, Battery Chashma and Panthyal, between Ramban and Banihal, the 270 kms Jammu-Srinagar National Highway has been blocked since last night. Over 2 to 3 ft snowfall at about 12 kms road stretch between Nowgam near Banihal and Lower Munda towards Northern Portal of Jawahar Tunnel (Kashmir side), has completely stalled the movement of vehicles.
Though boulders from three points between Banihal and Ramban were cleared during the day today but again shooting stones blocked the highway as the rain continued in Ramban sector. However, Batote-Doda-Kishtwar highway was operational till late this evening. Over 4000 vehicles including nearly 800 light motor vehicles (LMVs) were stranded all along the National Highway since last night, sources added.
SSP Traffic National Highway, JS Johar said that due to heavy snowfall in Jawahar Tunnel axis and landslides at 4-5 places in Ramban sector, the Jammu-Srinagar National Highway was blocked at around 3 am last night. He said highway has turned dangerous between Ramban and Banihal due to frequent falling of boulders/ shooting stones etc as rain continued in the sector.
Johar further said that Jawahar Tunnel was the major issue, due to heavy snowfall. The MeT has already predicted bad weather for the next two days and there are bleak chances of road opening in next two days. He said over 2200 vehicles including nearly 400 in Ramban- Banihal sector are stranded on this side of the Jawahar Tunnel. Nearly equal number, or may be some less, could be on that side of the JT, the SSP maintained.
Meanwhile, there was heavy rush of tourists in Patnitop and Kud tourist spots since last evening. Being weekend, a large number of domestic tourists thronged snow clad tourists resort of Patnitop and the bookings in hotels were almost full. There is about 1.5 ft snow at Patnitop and a large number of local touriosts from Katra, Jammu, Samba, Udhampur and Kathua area thronged Patnitop and Natha Top to enjoy snowfall. The authorities have issued avalanche warnings in Ramban, Doda, Kishtwar and other snow bound areas of the region.
Director, Airport Authority, Jammu, P R Beuria said that due to bad weather and poor visibility operation of six flights, including three of Air India and two SpiceJet, was cancelled at Jammu Airport while one flight of Spicejet was diverted whereas, four were delayed due to poor visibility. Rest of the flights operated normally, he added.
Meanwhile, a MeT spokesman has predicted rain and snowfall during next two days across Jammu and Kashmir while in Ladakh the sky will remain generally coudy during next 24 hours. The weather may show some improvement from January 6, the spokesman added.
Showing some improvement in temperature during last two days, winter capital city of Jammu recorded a minimum temperature of 11.7 degee Celsius and maximum 17.7 deg C, holy township of Katra a minimum temperature of 9.5 degree C, tourist resort Bhaderwah a night temperature of 0.6 degree C while Banihal 0.5 deg C temperature today.
Kargil town was the coldest place in the Northern region with minimum temperature of -16.6 degree Celsius while Leh town recorded a night temperature of – 12.0 degree C.
Electricity supply to many snow bound areas including Mahore, Gulabgarh, Sungri-Chassana and Dharmari in Reasi besides parts of Dudu-Basantgarh, Machedi and parts of Bani-Duggan blocks has been snapped. Even in some parts of Jammu City as well, power remained snapped for over 8-10 hours since last night. While many areas were still under darkness, the supply to the Jammu city localities was restored this afternoon. The PDD was imposing heavy power curtailment since last eveningacross the region adding miseries of the public during these harsh winter days.
Meanwhile, people in Kashmir woke to white snowy morning, a day ahead of the forecast made by the Weatherman. One to two inches snowfall was recorded in Srinagar and North Kashmir but South Kashmir witnessed heavy snowfall.
Pulwama town recorded 1.2 feet of snow, Shopian 1.8 feet, Anantnag 1.6 feet, Keller 2 feet, Zainapora 1.2 feet, Heerpora 2.6 feet, Qazigund 1.7 feet, Zig 2 feet, Kund 2 feet, Awantipora 7 inches, Tral 5 inches, Pampore 8 inches and Pahlagam 2.5 feet.
It was snowing in entire Kashmir this evening with MeT department forecasting that the snowfall will continue till next 2-3 days with occasional breaks.
“Moderate to heavy snowfall with isolated very heavy snowfall most likely to occur in South Kashmir, Gulmarg in North Kashmir, Banihal-Ramban, Poonch, Rajouri, Kishtwar, Zanskar Drass and on higher reaches of Ladakh region,” Director Meteorological department Sonam Lotus said.
“This may lead to a disruption of surface and air transportation and water logging in plains of Jammu and Srinagar cities,” he said.
In Srinagar and other parts of Kashmir, the snowfall led to water logging. However, in Srinagar, the SMC has pressed pumps into service to drain out the water. Srinagar Mayor Junaid Mattoo said that 32 mobile dewatering pumps have been deployed in low lying areas of Srinagar which are prone to water logging. He said that the snow clearance will be started in Srinagar early morning at 7 am.
The Disaster Management in Kashmir issued avalanche warning for Anantnag, Kulgam, Baramulla, Kupwara and Bandipora.
The electricity has already started to play hide and seek in the region while roads in many parts are covered with snow. In South Kashmir majority of the areas are under darkness since morning.
In Budgam district where there were only 2 inches of snowfall, the power supply since morning is down. In Srinagar the electricity was playing hide and seek. In South Kashmir there is blackout and residents said that the power supply is down since last night. They said majority of the roads are blocked as the snowfall clearance has not been done yet.
Jammu and Kashmir Board of School Education said that the examination of students of class 11th, scheduled today, was postponed in view of the bad weather.
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