Gopal Sharma/ Fayaz Bukhari
JAMMU/ SRINAGAR, Mar 12: The hilly areas of Kashmir experienced fresh snowfall and heavy rain lashed plains of Valley while the Jammu-Srinagar National Highway was blocked after rain triggered landslides in Banihal and Ramban areas last night, whereas Jammu witnessed about 9 degrees fall in temperature today with the rain.
The overnight heavy rains continued to lash plains of Kashmir and hills had heavy snowfall while the weather conditions improved this afternoon with the local Weatherman predicting more rains on March 14 and 15.
The higher reaches of the Valley mostly in North Kashmir continued to receive snowfall last night, thus bringing down the temperature further.
Gulmarg received two feet of snow, Kandi Baramulla six inches, Baramulla town 2 inches, Sadna Top in Kupwara 3 feet, Z- Gali 2 feet, Keran 3 feet and Kupwara town 3 inches, Tulail 2 feet and Razdhan Top 2.6 feet while 3 feet snow accumulated in Sonamarg and Pahalgam received 3 inches of snowfall.
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The overnight rains in the Valley that continued from last morning to this morning resulted in inundation of the roads and streets causing hardships to the pedestrians.
Several roads across Kashmir inundated due to failure of proper drainage system. The roads in the low lying area of Srinagar were already inundated.
Director Meteorological department (MeT), Sonum Lotus said that the weather would remain dry tomorrow as per the forecast while there is possibility of light rainfall across Kashmir on March 14 and 15 with main activity on March 14.
The night temperature at Gulmarg, the world famous ski-resort settled at minus 4.0 degree Celsius.
Srinagar which received nearly 30.0 mm of fresh rainfall, recorded the night temperature of 2.2 degrees Celsius.
The incessant rainfall for the last 36 hours has thrown life out of gear in the Valley even as the officials of Irrigation and Flood Control (I&FC) department said that there was no threat of floods in the Valley as the major rainfall activity was recorded in North Kashmir.
There is no flood threat, as most of the rainfall activity has been from North Kashmir and the gauge level in all water bodies is below normal. “Tributaries in North Kashmir are filled with rainfall water, but there is no situation of floods in the Valley,” an official said.
Meanwhile, due to blockade in Ramban sector, about 400 vehicles were stranded along Jammu-Srinagar highway at various places. Most of these vehicles were local. The movement of vehicles from Jammu and Srinagar side was already restricted due to repair/ maintenance work today. The men and machines were working to clear the highway and restore it for traffic.
Sources said about 100 feet area of the road at Shaban Bas, near Chambalbas in Banihal sector sunk last mid night due to heavy rain. The landslides triggered by a heavy downpour also blocked road in Nashri, Mehar, Cafeteria and Maroog areas.
The frequent rains during the day though disrupted the road restoration work but the highway was cleared in Nashri, Mehar, Cefeteria and Maroog stretches. The major bottleneck was at Chabalbass near Banihal where mud-slide and sinking of the road, has hampered the restortation work.
Project Director, National Highway, Ramban Sector, P K Phonsa, said that the landslides between Nashri and Ramban were cleared during the day today despite rain but the major bottle-neck near Banihal is yet to be cleared. He said a partion of road has sunk near Chambalbas and the men and machinrey were on the job. ” We are expecting the road clearance by tomorrow morning,” Phonsa maintained.
SSP Traffic, J S Johar said that traffic on the highway will be restored tomorrow only if the weather improves. He said till now, the road was closed as about 30 mtrs portion of the road near Banihal is yet to be restored. But hoped that it will be cleared by morning.
“No vehicular movement shall be allowed from either side on the Jammu-Srinagar Highway in view of the inclement weather prediction issued by the Met department for few days besides apprehension of landslides and shooting stones at several places and continuous raining,” another Traffic Police official said.
In case the weather improves at night, a decision will be taken tomorrow after assessing the road condition, he added.
The people have been advised to undertake journey on the highway only after confirming the status of the road from traffic control units.
Meanwhile, with the rain across the region since last night, a significant change in the weather in Jammu area has been witnessed. The temperature has considerably decreased in the winter capital city Jammu, forcing people to again wear woolen clothes.
Jammu recorded a maximum of 21.0 degree Celsius temperature today, with 9 degrees sharp fall as compared to the temperature on Thursday which was recorded as 30.1 degree C.
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