2 dead in avalanche, flights cancelled
Gopal Sharma / Fayaz Bukhari
JAMMU/ SRINAGAR, Jan 22: After heavy rain, snowfall and landslides, the Jammu-Srinagar National Highway, Batote-Doda-Kishtwar and many other roads across the State were closed, four flights operating from Jammu airports cancelled while two persons were killed and two rescued after they were trapped under an avalanche at a village in Banihal area of district Ramban this afternoon.
Trikuta hills of Katra Mata Vaishnodevi, famous tourist reports of Patnitop-Batote, Gulmarg, Bhaderwah and Pahalgam experienced heavy snowfall of the season, while Jammu region recorded a sharp fall in day’s temperature as compared to last two days. Power supply to entire Doda-Kishtwar, Bhaderwah and Paddar area besides many parts of the region has been snapped as many poles and cables were broken/ damaged due to snowfall and rain, whereas, the water supply to many snowbound areas has also been badly hit.
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Over 5000 vehicles including trucks and other load carriers were stranded at Nagrota Bypass, Udhampur -Dhar Road, Jakheni Bypass besides Manwal-Mansar area of the highway whereas, around 200 light and medium passenger vehicles were said to have been stranded in Banihal and Ramban areas. Over 250 vehicles are also trapped on Nashri-Batote-Doda-Kishtwar and Bhaderwah roads.
There was about 3 ft snow near Jawahar Tunnel, 2 ft at Bhaderwah and around 1.5 to 2 ft at Patnitop and Batote areas this morning. Latti, Dudu- Basantgarh, Pancheri in Udhampur; Bani and Loang towns of Kathua; Mandi, Loran, Saujian and Bafliaz in Poonch and Kandi-Budhal area Rajouri also experienced heavy snowfall over night. Reasi-Mahore-Chassana and Gool- Gulabgarh roads of Reasi district have been closed due to fresh snowfall.
IG Traffic, J&K, Alok Kumar told the Excelsior that right from Nashri Tunnel to Jawahar Tunnel, heavy snowfall at many places was witnessed due to overnight rain and also during the morning hours.
He said due to shooting stones land slides at many places between this nearly 100 kms road stretch up to Jawahar Tunnel, massive blockades have been created. If the weather improves tomorrow, the road clearance work will be launched and stranded vehicles at Banihal and Ramban area will be cleared for Srinagar first. Kumar said northern tube of the Jawahar Tunnel was closed due to massive avalanche in the morning and it was cleared by the BEACON authorities thereafter, However, no loss of life was reported there.
The IG said a massive land slide took place just a few kms ahead of Nashri Tunnel towards Ramban. There was nearly 1.5 to 2 ft snow in Batote and even Patnitop area. Therefore, no vehicle could ply on Udhampur-Batote-Doda-Kishtwar road today. He said some vehicles were trapped in snow near Batote. Even the traffic on Doda-Bhderwah road also remained suspended due to heavy snowfall in and around Bhaderwah today. There was no power supply in Bhaderwah town since last evening, while Basantgarh, Latti, Dudu, Bani, Mandi towns were also without power supply. Most of the areas of Chenab region have also plunged into darkness.
A senior police official from Ramban said that four persons were trapped under avalanche at Hillbawa village near Trigam in Banihal this afternoon. While two persons were killed under the snow, two others were rescued by Army (23 RR) and police jawans from PP Khari and admitted to Banihal hospital in serious condition this evening. The deceased were identified as Samreena Bano, daughter of Mukhtar Ahmed from Hillbawa and Mohd Rafiq Guth, son of Ghulam Qadir, residents of Trigam. Saja Begum, wife of Farooq Ahmed from Hillbawa and Fatima, wife of Marqoob Ahmed from Bijnari, Khari were undergoing treatment at SDH Banihal.
Power supply to Doda and Kishtwar districts was snapped after a tower was damaged due to fall of a tree in Patnitop area last night. The PDD authorities said they have asked the NHPC to provide every possible help to restore power supply to Doda-Kishtwar at the earliest.
Director Airport Authority, Jammu, DK Gautam said that due to bad weather and aero-space restrictions at Delhi in view of Republic Day preparations, several morning flights were delayed by 1-2 hours while four flights of Air India and SpiceJet were cancelled from Jammu airport today.
CEO Mata Vaishnodevi Shrine Board, Simrandeep Singh said that Trikuta Hills and Bhawan witnessed heavy snowfall today. He said the chopper service to Mata Vaishnodevi from Katra base camp remained suspended today along with the operation of Battery car service. However, yatra continued smoothly. The ropeway trolley operation from Bhawan to Bhairon Ghati also remained suspended. Despite rain and snowfall over 13,000 pilgrims paid obeisance at holy cave shrine and over 12,000 were on their way till this afternoon.
Udhampur- Ramnagar Road has been blocked due to land slide near Kagote this morning while Ramnagar-Kalounta-Majori and Basantgarh-Dudu-Lathi road has been blocked due to heavy snowfall. Many vehicles are said to have trapped at several places.
There was huge rush of Kashmir bound stranded passengers at Jammu Bus Stand. No vehicle towards Kashmir or Doda-Kishtwar side was allowed by the traffic authorities from Nagrota Bypass and TCP Udhampur today.
Traffic on Rajouri-Poonch highway remained suspended due to slippery road conditions near Bhimber Gali after few inches of snowfall. However, the Army machines cleared the road and the traffic was restored. Poonch-Mandi-Loran and Saujian besides Surankote-Bafliaz-Dera Gali and Thannamandi-Rajouri roads were also blocked.
Director, Meteorological department Sonum Lotus said that due to extensive western disturbances the heavy rain and snowfall has been witnessed across the State during last 2-3 days. He said there will be significant improvement in weather in the State from tomorrow.
A MeT spokesman said that Jammu recorded a minimum temperature of 8.7 degree Celsius and maximum 10.4 degree C; Katra town maximum 12.8 deg C and minimum 6 deg C, Bhaderwah maximum 5.8 deg C and minimum minus 0.2 deg C while Batote town witnessed minimum minus 2.1 deg C and maximum 5 degree C temperature today.
Meanwhile, intermittent rain and snowfall continued since Sunday evening in Kashmir valley.
A MeT official said here that there will be improvement in weather conditions from today evening while as the Wednesday would remain cloudy throughout the day. “On Wednesday, there is possibility of light snowfall in the higher reaches as well”, the official said.
He said that there is no further forecast of rain or snowfall across the Valley till January 29 but on January 25, the weather would remain cloudy throughout the day.
The intermittent rainfall continued to lash plains since Sunday evening while as the higher reaches and other districts of the Valley experienced fresh snowfall.
All the flights landed and took off from Srinagar Airport today and there was no disruption.
Meanwhile, hundreds of passengers were stranded on the highway at Banihal due to the closure of highway. Officials said that men and machinery have already been deployed to clear the road but the fresh snowfall today disrupted the road clearance work.
Divisional Commissioner Kashmir, Baseer Ahmad Khan today issued a fresh avalanche warning in nine avalanche prone districts of Kashmir division today. The warning has been issued for the avalanche-prone areas in Anantnag, Kulgam, Budgam, Baramulla, Kupwara, Bandipora, Ganderbal, Kargil and Leh districts.
The Divisional Commissioner Kashmir has asked the Deputy Commissioners of all these districts to advise the people living in avalanche prone areas not to venture out to avoid the loss of lives. He has also directed the concerned DCs to take all the precautionary measures and to keep the SDRF, Police and para-medical staff with ambulances in readiness to avert any untoward incident.
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