The Kashmir valley received heavy snowfall since Saturday night in the region even as downpour triggered landslides at several locations along the already shut Srinagar-Jammu highway.
The snowfall began early on Saturday night and continued till early Sunday morning in the region. Srinagar city, the state’s summer capital, received 61.6 mm precipitation overnight – the highest 24-hour downpour recorded in February in the past decade, according to the data of the Meteorological Department.
Qazigund, the gateway town to the Valley, received 82.8 mm precipitation in the past 24 hours, the department said. The downpour triggered landslides at several mountainous stretches of the Srinagar-Jammu highway, which remained shut.
An official of the Traffic Department said heavy rainfall along parts of the highway triggered landslides and shooting stones at Panthyal, Magerkote, Gangroo, Hingi, Sherbibi, Salad, Digdol, Shalgarhi and several other locations.
The latest spell of rain has been caused by a western disturbance system, which is likely to impact the region with varying intensity at least till Monday.
The National Weather Forecasting Centre in its mid-day bulletin on Sunday said the western disturbance continued to have an effect and would continue to cause “fairly widespread to widespread rain and snowfall activity” over the western Himalayan region, including Jammu and Kashmir, during the next 48 hours. The downpour has impacted the region as rain and snowfall was received in all major towns and resorts of the region.
Kashmir Valley blanketed with Snow
