Fresh snowfall throws life out of gear in upper Shimla
SHIMLA: Normal life was thrown out of gear in high altitude regions of Himachal Pradehs due to fresh snowfall on Tuesday. : Upper Shimla regions remained cut off from the state capital following fresh spell of snow in Kharapathar, Kufri and Narkanda.
State capital Shimla, and Kufri, Dalhousie and Mashobra received 7, 35, 25 and 3cm snowfall, respectively, between 5.30pm on Monday and 8.30am Tuesday, the weather office said.
Tribal district Lahaul and Spiti’s administrative centre Keylong and Kinnaur’s Kalpa also saw 5 and 22 cm snowfall, respectively, during the period, it added.
Owing to the fresh spell, traffic on National Highway Five connecting Kaurik, a border point in Kinnaur, to Ferozepur in Punjab, remained suspended. Vehicles were unable to ply beyond tourist resort Charrabra due to accumulation of snow on roads.
“The bus routes were impacted due to snow while roads in Kufri and Narkanda were closed for traffic,” Shimla deputy commissioner Amit Kashyap said, adding that men and machinery have been deployed to clear snow from roads. Traffic movement in Chamba, Kinnaur and Lahaul and Spiti district was also affected, said deputy commissioner Anvinder Kumar.
The minimum temperature in Shimla and Manali was 0.5 and 0.8C respectively.
The Meteorological (MeT) department has issued fresh yellow weather warning for heavy snowfall in high, mid hills and rains in low hill, plains of Himachal Pradesh on February 20 and 21, an official said Tuesday.
Yellow warnings indicates the possibility of severe weather over the next few days that could affect the public.