Heavy snow across Kashmir on Thursday cut off the Kashmir Valley from the rest of the country as the arterial Jammu-Srinagar National Highway was closed for traffic while all flights to and fro Srinagar airport were cancelled, officials said here. An official of the traffic department told media that roads which connected the summer capital with far-flung areas like Gurez, Macchil, Keran and Tangdhar had also been closed due to adverse weather conditions. Over 2,000 vehicles are stranded on the highway due to the closure. An official of the Airport Authority of India said all incoming and outgoing flights at Srinagar Airport had been cancelled. “A call on afternoon flights will be taken only after reassessing the weather situation,” the official said. The residents of Srinagar and other parts of the Valley woke up to unseasonal snow, setting in early winter chill in Kashmir as the minimum temperature fell below the freezing point for the first time this season, an official of the MET department said. The snow has disrupted life in Kashmir as power was snapped in the early hours. A police official said there were reports of many trees and electric poles getting uprooted due to the heavy snow. While most of the vehicles remained off the roads, a few cars and cabs could be seen on the roads but drivers were facing difficulty in manoeuvring vehicles in view of the accumulation of snow. Srinagar Deputy Commissioner Shahid Iqbal Chaudhary said the district administration had taken up restoration works on a war-footing. “We have 45 machines on snow-clearance job while dewatering pumps have been put into service using generators to ensure there is no waterlogging. As many 37 power stations have been restored so far while the remaining will be restored in the next few hours,” he said. Srinagar city received around 11 cm of snow till 11.30 am while the Valley;s gateway town of Qazigund in south Kashmir received 12 cm of snowfall. Gulmarg, where snowfall began on Wednesday, recorded the highest snowfall of 62 cm so far, the official said. Higher reaches of Kashmir, including Gulmarg, Sonamarg and Kupwara, received the first snow on Wednesday while the plains were lashed by rain.
