Srinagar, Jan 05 (KNS): Normal life was on Saturday disrupted across the Valley as the major roads as well as the air traffic remained suspended for the second consecutive day here while as the electricity was snapped in most of the areas due to falling of transmission lines and electric poles in both rural and urban areas.
The heavy snowfall begin in the Valley including Srinagar, the summer capital of the State on Friday afternoon while as several inches of snow was seen accumulated in Kashmir.
Deputy Director Meteorological department (MeT), Dr Mukhtar Ahmad informed KNS that Srinagar received over nine inches of snow today while as Gulmarg, a famous ski-resort received two feet snow since Friday.
He added that in Kupwara, Pahalgam, Qazigund received snowfall of 41 cms, 40 cms and 26.1 cms respectively today.
Dr Mukhtar further said that the weather conditions would improve across the Valley from Sunday afternoon. “There is no forecast of any wet spell from Sunday onwards till the end of this week,” he said.
However, he said that the MeT has forecasted cloudy weather in between Jan 08-09, saying that there is possibility of rainfall in higher reaches in between Jan 08-09.
The MeT department had earlier forecasted major wet spell in Jammu and Kashmir including Ladakh, saying that two Western disturbances are affecting J&K in two phases from Jan 01-04 and Jan 04-06.
Meanwhile, the accumulation of snow has caused inconvenience to the commuters due to the slippery conditions of the roads.
The roads however were cleared till this afternoon as the Srinagar Municipal Corporation (SMC) has pressed its men and machinery since the wee hours of this morning.
Besides, the water supply has also been disrupted as the water pipes were frozen for several hours.
Meanwhile, Divisional Commissioner Kashmir while talking to Kashmir News Service (KNS), said, “The men and machinery was already kept in a state of preparedness and the administration along with police worked overnight to ensure uninterrupted availability of essential services. For the first time power supply and the road connectivity was not disrupted as traffic continued on the roads and power was not snapped in any part of Kashmir valley.”
Reports said that police also worked overnight along with civil administration to ensure prompt delivery of services and hassle free movement of the traffic in Srinagar and other parts of Kashmir valley.
However, the traffic on Srinagar-Jammu highway and other major roads continued to remain suspended for the second consecutive day here due to the fresh snowfall across the Valley.
The officials said that the traffic will be allowed to ply after the snow accumulated on the roads will be cleared to ensure safety of the travelers.
Traffic Control Unit Srinagar told KNS that snow is continuing and the road is closed but the men and machinery are on job to restore the traffic on Srinagar-Jammu highway at the earliest. “The continuing snow is disrupting the restoration work,” he added in this morning.
Moreover, the morning flights in Kashmir were also suspended in Srinagar. The flights scheduled to take off or leave from Srinagar were suspended on Friday afternoon due to less visibility, officials had said.
However the air traffic in this afternoon resumed, officials said, adding that the clearance of snow from the civil airport was done following which the traffic resumed.
Notably, the Divisional Commissioner Kashmir, Baseer Ahmad Khan had issued an avalanche warning for nine districts of Kashmir division in view of the inclement weather and snowfall. The warning was issued for the avalanche-prone areas in district Anantnag, Kulgam, Budgam, Baramulla, Kupwara, Bandipora, Ganderbal, Kargil and Leh.
As per a handout, the Divisional Commissioner had asked the Deputy Commissioners of all these districts to advise the people living in avalanche prone areas not to venture out during the snowfall. Besides, they had been directed to take all the precautionary measures and to keep the SDRF, Police and Para-medical staff with ambulances in readiness to deal with any untoward incident. (KNS)