Weather Improves, Highway Open
Traffic movement from Jammu to Srinagar today; 5 residential houses collapse in Pulwama
Kashmir witnessed season’s heaviest snowfall overnight with summer capital Srinagar recording 18 cms of snow and plunging Valley into darkness. However, weather improved on Monday morning following which 300-km Srinagar- Jammu highway was thrown open for one way traffic after remaining closed for two days and air traffic also resumed from Srinagar International Airport.
Talking to us , Inspector General of Police Traffic, Muneer Ahmad Khan said; “The highway has been opened for one way traffic and vehicles would ply from Jammu to Srinagar on Tuesday.”
The Director Meteorological Department, Sonam Lotus said weather would remain pleasant till March 13. “Kashmir may witness moderate rain or snowfall after March 13,” he added.
MeT officials said Gulmarg recorded one feet of fresh snow. Kokernag, they said, received 1.6 feet of snowfall since Sunday while as Pahalgam in Anantnag district recorded nearly eight inches of snow.
MeT officials said snowfall has resulted in fresh cold wave as the night temperature dipped by two degrees in Srinagar to settle at minus 0.3 degree Celsius. Gulmarg, they said, was the coldest place in Kashmir division as the mercury settled at minus 7 degrees Celsius while
Kargil in Ladakh region recorded a low of minus 6.4 degrees Celsius.
The fresh snow-fall has also led to massive water-logging in various parts of Srinagar and other areas of Kashmir.
Snow snaps power
Reports said the heavy snowfall damaged the electric poles and wires plunging many areas into darkness across Kashmir. “Power was playing hide and seek for the past three days but PDD officials never paid any attention towards restoring the power supply,” residents of Kupwara said.
Similar reports were received from Pulwama, Shopian, Anantnag, Bandipora and other districts of Kashmir.
An official of Divisional administration said that due to the snowfall, entire Kashmir witnessed frequent power breakdowns since last night. He said that every effort is being made to restore power supply as soon as possible. “We are hopeful that power will be resorted across Kashmir till Monday evening,” he said adding that all roads have been cleared of snow.
5 residential houses collapse in Pulwama
At least five residential houses collapsed in south Kashmir’s Pulwama and Shopian districts while as hundreds of trees fell due to the heavy snowfall in the area.
The inmates of the houses in Baigpora, Dogam and some other areas were evacuated after the houses collapsed. In the meantime hundreds of trees had fallen on ground and roads during the night.
In Shopian and Pulwama, the snow was lifted from the main roads but many interior roads in Keller remained snow bound.
