Weather plays spoilsport in poll-bound Kashmir
Rain and fresh snowfall wreaked havoc in Kashmir valley on Monday, with landslides and ¢ooding resulting in the closure of intra-district roads in the three Lok Sabha seats of Anantnag, Baramulla and Srinagar. It also impacted the poll campaigning in several areas.
The worst a¦ected by rain and snowfall is north Kashmir’s Baramulla constituency, where all three districts of Baramulla, Kupwara and Bandipora witnessed snowfall in upper reaches and torrential rain in the plains.
Snowfall has completely cut o¦ the Gurez valley, the Machil valley and Tangdhar from the district headquarters of north Kashmir, with two to three feet of snow accumulation recorded at the Razdan Top and the Sadna Top. Thousands of voters hail from these pockets. Snowfall badly impacted electioneering in these areas.
An o«cial said several pockets of Kupwara witnessed ¢ash ¢ooding and submerging of highways, cutting o¦ Kupwara district from Sopore. Landslides
were also triggered in several areas like Kupwara’s Gujarnar-Rangpath and Qaziabad-Langate.
Residents of Bungam and Chogal in Handwara alleged that several houses started submerging around 4 a.m. An o«cial said the Kupwara police along with SDRF, CRPF and the Army was carrying out rescue operations. The police advised locals to stay away from water bodies and urged those living near banks to “shift to safer places”.
In central Kashmir’s Srinagar Lok Sabha seat, landslides and snowfall impacted the upper reaches of Kangan, where class work was suspended due to inclement weather. Budgam district recorded multiple instances of landslide, cutting o¦ several pockets of upper reaches. The worst a¦ected were areas close to the Sonamarg area, which saw a major landslide.
In south Kashmir’s Anantnag constituency, tra«c remained suspended on the Mughal Road where a fresh spell of snowfall was recorded. The Srinagar-Jammu national highway was also closed due to landslides.
Several pockets of Pulwama witnessed ¢ash ¢oods and waterlogging.
“Water in the Jhelum river is below the danger mark so far. It’s likely to go up because of fresh rainfall in south Kashmir. People are advised to follow o«cial advisories. We are fully prepared to deal with the situation,” Mifta Alam, Technical O«cer of the Flood & Irrigation Department in Kashmir, said.
Alert in Srinagar
In Srinagar, the authorities formulated “an e«cient plan to ensure prompt response to any ¢ood like situation”. Deputy Commissioner Bilal Mohi-ud-Din Bhat called for round the clock monitoring of ¢oodprone spots.
The MeT o«ce has predicted a fresh wet spell in the next 24 hours.