Fresh snow burst disrupts life in Valley, avalanche warning issued
Flights ops suspended at Srinagar Airport; vehicles stranded on Srinagar-jammu NH
SRINAGAR : Snow enveloped the Valley for the second time this week as Kashmir recorded fresh snowfall on Friday, closing the Srinagar-jammu national highway and disrupting air traffic.
Jammu and Kashmir police issued an advisory asking people to drive slow as the roads were rendered slippery due to fresh snowfall. A traffic department official said vehicular movement was suspended on Srinagar-jammu national highway and a decision on resuming the traffic will be taken only after improvement in the weather conditions.
While nearly 11,00 trucks moving from Srinagar to Jammu remain stranded on the highway, several flights were suspended at Srinagar Airport in the afternoon due to poor visibility, he said.
Kashmir divisional commissioner Baseer Khan on Friday issued an avalanche warning for nine districts of Kashmir division in view of the inclement weather and snowfall.
The warning has been issued for the avalanche-prone areas in districts Anantnag, Kulgam, Budgam, Baramulla, Kupwara, Bandipora, Ganderbal, Kargil and Leh.
SNOW CLEARANCE MACHINES DEPLOYED
Khan informed that adequate number of snow clearance machines and bulldozers have been deployed in advance at specific locations across the division besides water supply tankers. As many as 53 snow clearance machines have been deployed across the Valley at crucial spots. “The intensity of snow is more in north Kashmir than in south. We have deployed machines in almost all the districts. In Srinagar, 19 machines are on the field,” said Sajad Ahmad Reshi, junior engineer , mechanical engineering department. Snowfall is expected to continue on Saturday after which, its intensity will reduce. The administration has also established snow control rooms in every district to meet any eventuality arising due to bad weather. Around 24 inches of snow was recorded in Bungus,18 inches in Lolab, 12 inches in Gurez, six inches in ski resort of Gulmarg and around four inches in capital Srinagar.
Khan said the power department has also pruned trees in the vicinity of transmission lines which would keep the disruption minimal, adding that adequate stock of transformers is made available in all districts.