Jammu: The Jammu-Srinagar National Highway was on Thursday was closed for traffic after massive landslides blocked the road at several places.
“There have been massive landslides at several places on the highway, including Banihal, Sher Bibi and Panthal, following which the highway was closed for traffic,” SSP Traffic, National Highway, Sanjay Kotwal said.
He said continuous rainfall was hampering road opening operations.
“The men and machinery have been kept on standby and as soon as the weather improves we will start the road opening operation as shooting stones are hampering the clearance operation,” he said. He said vehicles from Srinagar towards Jammu were allowed to ply on the road and no vehicle from Jammu towards Srinagar was allowed.
“The vehicles which were allowed from Srinagar towards Jammu in the morning have been stranded at several places”.
An avalanche warning was also on Thursday issued for higher areas of, advising people not to venture out in vulnerable areas in the next two days.
The advisory was issued by the Snow and Avalanche Study Establishment (SASE), part of the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO).
A “medium danger” warning exists for avalanche-prone areas of Baramulla, Kupwara, Bandipore, Bandipur, Gandarbal, Poonch, Rajouri, Riyasi, Ramban, Doda and Kargil districts of Jammu and Kashmir.
About 600-700 trucks are stranded at various places on the highway,” he said adding, no new vehicle is being allowed to move beyond Ramban.
He said Batote-Doda-Kishtwar Road was also closed for traffic due to heavy landslides at several places.
“The Batote-Doda-Kishtwar road was closed since morning today following massive landslides at several places,” Kotwal said.
Meanwhile, a police officer escaped unhurt after his official vehicle was hit by shooting stones on the Jammu-Srinagar National Highway.
Inspector Mohammad Amin Malik, Station House Officer of Ramsoo Police Station, was inspecting the movement of traffic on the highway when his vehicle was hit by shooting stones near Ramsoo, a police officer said.
He said the vehicle was damaged in the incident.
Meanwhile, the higher reaches of Kashmir received fresh snowfall overnight while the plains were lashed by heavy rains even as the MeT office predicted widespread rains in the plains for the next three days.
Kupwara and the tourist resorts of Pahalgam and Gulmarg were among the areas which received fresh snowfall during the night and it was snowing when the last reports came in, an MeT official said.
The famous ski-resort of Gulmarg in north Kashmir received eight inches of fresh snowfall till 8:30 AM. Pahalgam hill resort in south Kashmir received light snowfall of about 6 mm, while Kupwara town in north recorded rains and snow equivalent to 34.5 mm of rainfall, the official said.
There are also reports of moderate snowfall in other areas in the higher reaches of the Valley as well.
Srinagar, the summer capital of Jammu and Kashmir and other areas in the plains were lashed by rains overnight, the weatherman said.
He said the city recorded 6.9 mm of rains leading to water-logging in many areas. Qazigund town in south Kashmir recorded 3.2 mm of rainfall, the official said.
Many areas en route the Srinagar-Jammu National Highway also received rains forcing the authorities to close the 300-km arterial road, the only all weather road-link connecting Kashmir Valley with the rest of the country.
Though traffic was allowed on the highway in the morning, the authorities decided to close it after 12:30 PM due to heavy rains, a spokesman of the Traffic Department here said.
MeT office said there is also a possibility of moderate snowfall in the higher reaches of the Valley.