Kashmir Valley cut off for 2nd day after heavy snowfall

The Jammu-Srinagar highway remained closed due to heavy snowfall in the region

Kashmir Valley was cut off from rest of the country for the second consecutive day today as the air traffic to and fro Srinagar Airport remained suspended while the Srinagar-Jammu National Highway was closed due to yesterday's heavy snowfall.

"The National Highway is closed as the road has been rendered unsafe for vehicular traffic at several places around Jawahar Tunnel due to yesterday's snowfall," a spokesman of the traffic department told PTI.

The 294-km road, the only all weather road link between Kashmir and rest of the country, was closed yesterday following heavy snowfall across the Valley.

The vehicular traffic on the road will be allowed only after the road is declared safe, the spokesman said adding that there were no reports of any passengers being stranded on the highway. An official of the Airport Authority of India said no flights had landed at Srinagar Airport for second day today due to the slippery runway.

"So far no flight has landed or taken off from Srinagar airport," he said. Meanwhile, normal life continued to remain affected in most parts of the Valley as the snowfall snapped electricity supply lines.

The residents in most parts of the Valley are without electricity since yesterday morning.

However, most of the major roads in the city and elsewhere in the Valley have been cleared off snow. The snow clearance operations are now focused on restoring link roads.

There was little change in minimum temperature across the Valley but Ladakh region saw mercury rise by several degrees last night.

Meawhile, several arterial roads in Jammu including the Mughal road, between Bafliaz in Poonch to Shopian district in Kashmir Valley, also remained closed for the second day.

Due to the closure of the Srinagar-Jammu National Highway, several vehicles have been stranded at the Jammu end waiting for the highway to be reopened. Over 1,300 vehicles are stranded at various places in Nagrota, Sidhra, Udhampur, Kud, Ramban, Banihal and Jawahar tunnel areas, police officials said. Once the NH is reopened for one-way traffic, all the stranded vehicles will be cleared today and no fresh vehicles will be allowed to move on the highway, they said.

A MET office spokesperson said Srinagar, the summer capital of the state, recorded a low of minus 1.3 degrees Celsius which was marginally higher than previous night's minus 1.4 degrees Celsius.

The minimum temperature in Pahalgam settled at minus 4.6 degrees Celsius, up from minus 6.6 degrees Celsius previous night.

The weather in Ladakh region, however, remained dry but the minimum temperature rose by several degrees in Leh town to settle at minus 7.2 degrees Celsius compared to previous night's minus 12.0 degrees Celsius, the spokesman said.

The weatherman has forecast snow or rainfall across the Valley over the next 24 hours.