Rains, snowfall in parts of North; heavy rain alert in U'khand

Heavy rain alert was issued in Uttarakhand today amid a spell of rains and snowfall in large parts of north India even though there was a slight rise in temperatures.
According to the alert issued by the MeT Department in Uttarakhand, which suffered extensive damage in the 2013 calamitous deluge, there could be snowfall in areas above 3,500 metres and heavy rains in area located above 2,000 to 3,500 metres for the next 24 hours.
State Chief Secretary N Ravishankar has asked all district magistrates to keep a vigil and take precautionary measures in view of possible heavy rains, especially in Uttarkashi, Tehri Garhwal, Pithoragarh and hill areas of Dehradun districts.

Personnel engaged in reconstruction work at Kedarnath, which bore the brunt of the 2013 disaster, have been apprised of the alert and asked to remain vigilant.
Rudraparayg DM Raghav Langar said Kedarnath was receiving snowfall since early morning today, prompting the administration to halt reconstruction work for the time being.
Though Kedarnath is not a landslide prone area, reconstruction work is halted whenever there is snowfall as a precautionary measure, he said.

Meanwhile, the higher reaches of the mountain districts of the state have been receiving snowfall. Heavy rains lashed plain areas since morning.
In 2013, hundreds of persons were killed and thousands went missing after a massive deluge ravaged large parts of the state including areas close to the four famous Himalayan shrines located in the state.

Meanwhile, a moderate rise in temperatures was registered in the national capital that received traces of rain today.
The maximum and minimum in the city settled at 28.8 degrees Celsius, up three notches above normal, and 19 degrees Celsius, which was seven notches above normal, respectively, the MeT Department here said.
In Jammu and Kashmir, fresh snowfall was witnessed at the famous tourist resorts of Gulmarg and Pahalgam in the Valley even as intermittent rains continued in other parts of the region for the second consecutive day.
The MeT department in the state predicted heavy rains or snow at few places.

Gulmarg received 35.6 cm (14 inch) of fresh snow during the night leading to a dip in minimum temperature that settled at minus 2.6 degrees Celsius.
Pahalgam hill resort in south Kashmir, which serves as the base camp for the annual Amarnath yatra, recorded 9 cm of fresh snow and the mercury there settled at a low of 0.2 degree Celsius.