Srinagar, February 16
The Kashmir valley remained cut off from rest of the country for the second day today as the Srinagar-Jammu highway was closed to traffic due to fresh snowfall at Jawahar Tunnel and landslides elsewhere, officials said.
Around 3 feet snow had accumulated on the road at Banihal, hampering efforts of the Border Roads Organisation to open the traffic, the officials said.
Snow and rains yesterday triggered landslides at Ramsu, 135 km from here, and the debris were yet to be cleared.
While 554 passengers and 270 vehicles were stranded at various points along the highway, no vehicles were allowed from either Jammu or Srinagar today. The officials claimed all 554 stranded passengers had been shifted to safer places.
CHANDIGARH:
Many places in Himachal Pradesh on Wednesday received heavy snowfall while plains of Punjab and Haryana were lashed by rains.
Bhang in Manali had received heavy snowfall at 50 cm, while Solang Nullah got 51 cm of snow. Heavy snow was reported at Dhundi (79 cm), while Patsio 20 cm.
Shimla was lashed by rains (46.2 mm). Among other towns in Himachal to receive rain were Bhuntar (51 mm), Dharamsala (43.6 mm), Sundernagar (55.2 mm), Una (33.2 mm), Pandoh (31 mm), Rampur (33.6 mm), Sunni (33.5 mm), Kasol (45.8 mm), Kahu (50 mm) and Sujanpur Thira (41.7 mm).
Chandigarh had a pleasant day on Wednesday as residents enjoyed a bright sunshine after witnessing a wet day throughout yesterday.
In Haryana, Ambala, Karnal, Gurgaon and Sonepat were among other towns to be lashed by rains.
Amritsar, Ludhiana, Patiala, Nangal, Nawanshahr, Ropar, Mohali and Balachaur also received rains.
— PTI
