Four more killed as highway remains blocked; weather conditions improve

JAMMU/SRINAGAR: Four more persons including a woman were reported to have been killed across the union territory in separate incidents related to heavy snowfall and rainfall, taking the number of deaths in past 48 hours to eight, even as the weather conditions improved significantly on Friday.
However, Kashmir remained cut off from the rest of the country for the second consecutive day as the Jammu-Srinagar national highway remained blocked while flights to Srinagar airport were suspended due to poor visibility.
Electricity supply in most parts of Kashmir also remained affected, while massive and untimely snowfall on Thursday has caused massive damage to apple trees as life was thrown out of gear in the Kashmir Valley for the second straight day, with authorities putting in herculean efforts to restore the essential services.
Heavy snowfall across Kashmir and upper reaches of Jammu region, coupled with incessant rains in plains had thrown the normal life out of gear across the union territory on Thursday.
While four persons were killed in separate incidents on Thursday, as many more died on Friday, taking the death toll to eight.
Bittu Ram was killed after being struck by lightning in Udhampur district. The lightning struck a place in Chenani belt of the district where Bittu Ram had taken shelter on Thursday night, police said.
Three more deaths were reported from Kashmir Valley.
“Mohammad Shaban was killed when the roof of a mosque he was sitting in fell consequently to heavy snowfall in Budgam district,” official sources said.
They added that two more persons were killed when they fell down from the rooftops of their houses while cleaning snow from it.
They identified the deceased as Abdul Rashid Sheikh from Budgam and Parveena Akhter from Pulwama.
Meanwhile, 16 people caught in snowfall and flash floods were rescued by security personnel in Jammu region.
“A car with three people on board was travelling from Chenani to Nagulta, when it was caught in a flash flood at Dabbad area of Udhampur district.
“Policeman Shakti Singh along with some locals launched a rescue operation to save the three passengers in the car even as the vehicle got washed away in the floods,” officials said.
Also, security forces rescued 13 passengers who were stranded on Mughal Road following heavy snowfall on Thursday night, the police said.
Meanwhile, over 4,000 vehicles were left stranded as the arterial Jammu-Srinagar national highway remained closed for the second consecutive day following heavy snowfall and landslides which blocked vehicular movement at several places.
The Mughal Road, connecting the twin districts of Poonch and Rajouri in Jammu region with South Kashmir's Shopian district, was also closed for traffic for the third consecutive day on Friday after snowfall in the high altitude areas on Wednesday, officials said.
"The national Highway is closed for second consecutive day today due to the accumulation of snow at various places and a landslide triggered by heavy rains in Samroli," an official said.
As a result, over 4,000 vehicles are stranded at various places enroute.
As per reports over 4,000 vehicles, mostly trucks, are stranded at Nagrota, Udhampur, Ramban, Banihal, Sidhra, Samba and Kathua areas on the highway.
Officials said no traffic has been allowed from either the Jammu or Srinagar side due to snowfall and slippery road conditions.
Officials said vehicles have been stopped at Nagrota traffic checkpost on the highway on the outskirts of Jammu and also at Udhampur.
Mughal road is closed for the third consecutive Friday due to heavy snowfall at Pir Ki Gali and Shopian areas, they said.
They said commuters have been directed to avoid travel along the road to avoid any untoward incident.
In Kashmir, flights to Srinagar airport remained suspended due to poor visibility.
Roads connecting the summer capital of the newly-formed union territory with far flung areas like Gurez, Macchil, Keran and Tangdhar were also shut due to adverse weather conditions.
"The Jammu-Srinagar highway remains closed for traffic due to heavy snowfall on either side of the Jawahar Tunnel. Efforts are on to restore the traffic at the earliest possible," an official of the traffic department told.
An official of the Airport Authority of India said all incoming and outgoing flights at Srinagar airport have been cancelled.
"The runway is clear but the visibility is poor which has resulted in no flights being able to operate at Srinagar airport. Depending on the weather situation, flights may be able to operate later in the day," the official said.
Heavy snowfall across Kashmir on Thursday severely affected essential services like electricity and water supply.
Though the administration said that restoration work was being carried out, the supply in the whole of the valley was badly affected, including many of the hospitals, which were using their own emergency measures.
"Our priority is to bring electricity to the hospitals and by tomorrow evening we should be able to restore electricity in whole of the city," Hashmat Qazi, Chief Engineer, Power Development Department told.
Regional Divisional Commissioner, Baseer Khan told: "Electric lines are being rectified and electricity in most areas of Srinagar will be restored by evening."
The electricity department is also taking help from the State Disaster Response Force (SDRF ) teams to get the transmission lines rectified.
"I had to wash my face with a mug of water which I collected from the snowmelt from the roof. There is no electricity for the past two days in our area and we could not get the water supplied to the water tanks on the roof," said Bashir Ahmed, a resident of Rawalpora in Srinagar.
Life remained paralysed in the valley for the second day even as the weatherman predicted a slight relief from Friday afternoon onwards. The snow fury brought devastation, uprooting trees and electric poles at many places.
Hundreds of villages across the valley were cut off after the link roads got blocked by the snow. The remote areas like Gurez and Tanghdhar have remained totally cut off for the past two days.
Commuters had a tough time due to snow which accumulated on the roads. "In a one and a half km stretch of link road, 20 trees had fallen between Bagh-e-Mehtab and Rawalpora in Srinagar. I had a tough time reaching home," said Ayyaz Ahmed, who lives in Badgam.
Dismissing fears that the valley may face shortage in food and medical supplies, Baseer Khan said: "There is no dearth of essential supplies and stocks are for 6 months."
Heavy snowfall over the past 36 hours has also caused massive damage to apple trees. Reports from Baramulla, Kupwara and Shopian, Kulgam, Pulwama and Anantnag districts said foliage laden apple trees have extensively been damaged in these districts.
In the higher reaches of Shopian district, the damage to apple trees has been more severe as the fruit was still on the trees when snowfall hit the orchards on Thursday.
Officials have admitted that most apple orchards in the valley have suffered damage because of the heavy snowfall during the last two days.
While officials did not quantify the damage caused to the apple orchards in the valley, people of the affected areas said that 60 per cent of the apple trees have been damaged due to the early snow. In most of these places, the trees have been flattened to the ground under the weight of the heavy fall.
Horticulture is the biggest industry in Kashmir as nearly 22 lakh metric tonnes of apple are exported from the valley.
However, the weather conditions started improving from Friday.
“The snowfall had stopped late Thursday evening in Valley and rains in Jammu region’s plains. The weather will only improve from here,” an official said.