JAMMU-SRINAGAR HIGHWAY BLOCKED

SRINAGAR/JAMMU: Fresh snowfall and rain lashed parts of Jammu and Kashmir on Tuesday, forcing closure of 270-km long arterial Jammu-Srinagar national highway on Tuesday and partially disrupting air traffic.

A fresh western disturbance hit the region on Tuesday bringing rain and snow in many parts of J&K. The meteorological centre in Srinagar said there was light snowfall in many parts of the Valley. “At night, Qazigund received 10cm of snow while Gulmarg was covered by 4cm of snow. During the day, there was snowfall in Batote, Pahalgam and Kokernag,” said an official of the MeT. Light to moderate snowfall was experienced in most of the high altitude areas, while the plains, including Jammu city were lashed by intermittent rains since the early hours.

At the time of filing the report, it was still snowing in the Jawahar Tunnel area - the gateway to the Kashmir valley and over one feet of snow had accumulated on the Kashmir-end of the tunnel.

There was light snowfall on the Jammu side of tunnel and in the Banihal area, while the landslides prone section of the highway between Ramban and Ramsu received intermittent rain. Director meteorological centre Sonam Lotus said that the intensity of precipitation would increase on Tuesday night:“This spell is likely to bring more rain and snow in south Kashmir and the Pirpanjal area, including Banihal-Ramban, Poonch and Rajouri, which may disrupt traffic on the Ramban-Banihal axis,” he said.

Srinagar Airport director Santosh Dhoke said light precipitation had affected visibility.

Heavy rain also resulted in suspension of chopper services from the cave shrine of Mata Vaishno Devi in Reasi district.