Nishikant Khajuria
JAMMU, Apr 30: Maximum temperature plunged to below normal while the Jammu-Srinagar National Highway remained fully closed for several hours as moderate to heavy rains lashed the entire State today.
Thousands of vehicles got stranded on the National Highway following landslides and sinking of road at Pedah in Ramban area, this morning around 7.30 am. Even as the Border Roads Organization (BRO) immediately pressed into service its men and machinery to put through the highway, vehicular traffic could be restored only one- way after 3.30 pm.
“No vehicle was allowed from Srinagar to Jammu today while around three thousand vehicles, including those carrying passengers and trucks loaded with essentials, are still stranded on the Highway from Pedah to Kud,” SSP National Highway, Sanjay Kotwal informed the Excelsior.
Long queues of vehicles could be seen up to several kms on either side of the Pedah where the road was sunk at different points. Even as the traffic department had announced that traffic would ply from Srinagar to Jammu on Friday, there are remote chances of the same as clearing the stranded vehicles would take a day since there are some points on the highway where only single vehicle can pass because of the damage due to landslides and soil erosion.
The BRO is working to repair the damaged portion of the road so that two vehicles could pass easily.
The Doda-Kishtwar road also remained closed for 4-5 hours due to land slides near Pul Doda this morning while two car borne persons sustained injuries when some shooting stones hit their vehicle.
The injured, identified as Mohd Iqbal, son of Ghulam Mohd of Gadi and Rafiq Ahmad, son of Ghulam Hussain of Shah Mohalla Doda, were shifted to hospital and their condition was stated to be out of danger. The road was cleared by afternoon for plying traffic.
Meanwhile, the fresh rains across the region considerably brought down maximum temperature in Jammu as well as in Kashmir today while the Metrology Department has predicted light to moderate rainfall and thunderstorms for the next 24 hours.
In Jammu, where 12.5 mm rainfall was registered from 8.30 am to 5.30 pm today, maximum temperature dipped from 34.8 degree Celsius on Wednesday to 20.6 degree Celsius on Thursday.
Though the fresh spell of rains brought some respite from soaring mercury, simultaneously it has made farmers concerned for the crop, which has already got damaged to a great extent.
Reports from Kashmir said that woolen and warm clothes are out again as cold revisited the Valley following fresh rain since early this morning, resulting in drop in the mercury.
The maximum temperature in Srinagar plunged from 22.1 degree Celsius on Wednesday to 16.6 degree Celsius on Thursday.
Before the rains, there was considerable improvement in minimum temperature in the Valley, including the world famous ski resort of Gulmarg, where against 1.5 degrees recorded yesterday, it was 3.5 degrees, today half a notch below normal. At famed health resort of Pahalgam, the minimum temperature settled at 6 degrees, two notches above normal. It was 1.7 degrees yesterday.
Qazigund, gateway of Kashmir, recorded 9.2 degrees about four degree more than yesterday, while it was 7.8 degrees at Kokernag, a notch above yesterday’s, despite recording seven mm rainfall during the night. Kupwara in north Kashmir recorded 9.7 degrees, about two notches above normal.
Leh recorded increase in the minimum temperature from 0.5 degree yesterday to 2.2 degree today, while it dropped by a notch at Kargil, a border town on Srinagar-Leh national highway, which is closed since December last year. At Kargil, it was 2.4 degrees against yesterday’s 3.8 degrees.
Follow our WhatsApp channel