Snow on Manali-leh highway disrupts traffic, tourists stuck
Snow clearance team has been deployed at Rani Nullah, say officials; weather not to improve for 2 days
SHIMLA : More than 100 vehicles were stranded on the busy Manali-leh highway on Monday after the Rohtang Pass, the gateway to Himachal Pradesh’s (HP’S) Lahaul and Spiti district, experienced unexpected snowfall.
Traffic on the busy highway came to a halt after Rohtang received six inches of snowfall hitting several passengers on their way to Lahaul-spiti and Manali.
Officials said the stranded passengers were evacuated safely and that the administration is regulating the traffic to avoid any chaotic situation in Rohtang.
“A snow clearance team, both men and machinery, has been deployed at Rani Nullah to clear the snow.
Traffic has been closed due to the snowfall. It is still intermittently snowing in the region,” the commander of 38 Border Road Task Force, Uma Shankar, said.
The district administration has instructed its officials deployed in Gulaba barrier and Marhi to be on high alert and also advised people and tourists to avoid venturing towards Lahaul-spiti and Manali till the situation gets normal.” Most of vehicles were stuck due to their wheels skidding in the fresh snow. The rohtang top experienced around one feet of snow and only 4×4 vehicles” said Suprintendent of Police Gaurav Singh.
District Administration deployed ‘Team raptors’ volunteers and the police personnal helped the movement of vehicles by shovelling off the snow from the tracks.
Snowfall in the higher reaches of the state has also led to a drop in the temperature by a few notches.
The sky remained cloudy in most parts of the state on Monday with light snowfall and rainfall occurring at isolated places.
‘LIGHT SNOWFALL LIKELY TO CONTINUE IN ROHTANG PASS FOR NEXT TWO DAYS’
“Snowfall in Rohtang has occurred due to a western disturbance. Light snowfall is very likely to continue in Rohtang Pass for the next two days,” the director of Meteorological department, Manmohan Singh, said.
The 13,050-feet Rohtang Pass had witnessed snowfall on September 29.
Last year, the region had witnessed its first heavy snowfall in mid-september.
Manali is witnessing a heavy rush of tourists, most of whom visit the Rohtang Pass, due to the Dussehra holidays.
Rohtang, known for its snowclad glaciers, scenic beauty and adventure sports, is one of the favourite tourist destinations in the Kullu Valley.
The maximum temperature in the state dropped by two to three degrees Celsius while the minimum temperature was one to two degrees above normal.
The maximum temperature in prominent tourists’ destination of Shimla, Manali, Dharamshala and Dalhousie was recorded at 22.6, 20.4, 23.8 and 17.5 degrees Celsius while the minimum was at 13.1, 8.4, 15.6 and 11.4 degrees Celsius respectively.
Kufri, an excursion point near Shimla, recorded a maximum temperature of 22.6 degrees Celsius and minimum temperature at 10.1 degrees Celsius.
The maximum temperature at Kalpa in Kinnaur district was 23.8 degrees Celsius and the minimum was 8.7 degrees Celsius.
The highest maximum temperature in the state was 30.8 degrees Celsius, which was recorded in Una, and the lowest temperature of 3.9 degrees Celsius in Keylong, the headquarters of Lahaul-spiti.
The higher reaches of Lahaulspiti and Kullu districts have received snowfall.
All routine buses on Keylongmanali route have been stopped.
THE SKY REMAINED CLOUDY IN MOST PARTS OF THE STATE ON MONDAY WITH LIGHT SNOW
AND RAIN AT ISOLATED PLACES