JAMMUSRINAGAR HIGHWAY CLOSED, HUNDREDS OF VEHICLES STRANDED

JAMMU : The Jammu-Srinagar national highway in Ramban district was closed Sunday following a landslide triggered by heavy rains in the Jammu region.

Several parts of the regions have been receiving heavy rainfall since the early hours of Sunday, with many high-altitude areas witnessing their first snowfall of the season.

Hundreds of vehicles were left stranded on the 294km road linking Kashmir with the rest of the country.

The incidents of shooting stones from hillocks along the highway were reported from Ramban’s Panthiyal area in Jammu and Kashmir.

Traffic on the highway was restricted to one-way from Jammu to Srinagar on Sunday morning as a precautionary measure after the Met forecast adverse weather conditions in the state for the next 48 hours.

Road clearance operation would be launched once the weather improves, the officials said.

SEASON’S FIRST SNOWFALL

Several parts of the Jammu region were lashed by rains since the early hours of Sunday with high-altitude areas, including Bhadarwah in Doda district, experiencing the season’s first snowfall, they said.

Snowfall was reported from Sonbhai and Kailash Kund, the officials said, adding that the higher reaches of Ramban and Reasi district also witnessed their first snowfall.

MERCURY DOWN

Due to inclement weather conditions, the temperature dropped in the state’s winter capital Jammu, which recorded 88.8mm of rainfall, a spokesman of the meteorological (Met) office said.

He said the night temperature in the city fell by almost 5° to settle at 18.9° Celsius, 4.5° below normal during this part of the season.

Similarly, the maximum temperature recorded on Saturday was 27° Celsius, 6.3° below the normal, the spokesman said.

CHOPPER SERVICE TO MATA VAISHNO DEVI SHRINE PARTIALLY SUSPENDED

Reasi district, which houses shrine of Mata Vaishno Devi, recorded 85mm of rainfall followed by Ramban (48.6 mm) and Doda (47.4 mm).

Heavy downpour and fog around the cave shrine of Mata Vaishno Devi forced the authorities to suspend chopper services from base camp Katra to Sanjichat on Sunday morning.

However, after the weather improved around 3pm on Sunday, the authorities after considering all the safety aspects, allowed resumption of services.