Fresh snow cuts off high-altitude areas

Bhanu P Lohumi

Tribune News Service

Shimla, January 16

Normal life was thrown out of gear and upper Shimla and tribal Kinnaur areas were cut off from the rest of the state and power supply was disrupted in and around the town as the region experienced second heavy snowfall of the season.

The tribal areas of Lahaul and Spiti, Kinnaur, Pangi and Bharmour, Rohtang, Kunzam, Saarch and Chansel mountain passes, the Dhauladhar hills in Kangra and Chaurdhar range in Sirmaur experienced second heavy snow of the season while mid and high hills had moderate snowfall and lower hills received widespread rains.

Vehicular traffic to upper Shimla region was suspended due to heavy snow which was partly restored by the evening, while bus services to Chandigarh, Kangra and Mandi regions are plying as normal. The snowfall started around 7 am in Shimla and surrounding areas and continued till noon and as such newspapers and essential items like vegetables, milk and bread reached before the snowfall started.

However, the snow started melting fast and soon the snow vanished from trees and rooftops, but 5-km stretch of the Hindustan-Tibet National Highway from Kufri to Fagu looked like a white lake.

After the nightmarish experience following heavy snowfall on January 7 that paralysed normal life, the district administration had made arrangements to cope up with the situation in view of heavy snowfall warning, said Deputy Commissioner Rohan Chand Thakur.

“The roads leading to hospitals and other emergency services have been opened on a priority basis. The Sanjauli to the Victory Tunnel road, Ridge to the IGMC, Cart Road and Tutikandi bypass are open to traffic. JCBs have been deployed at Dalhi and the road is clear up to Theog though there are some patches causing traffic hazards,” he said.

He added that the Hindustan-Tibet road was blocked due to heavy snow at Narkanada while the Theog-Rohru road was blocked at Khara Pathar.

He said power supply had been restored in 90 per cent of the Shimla (rural) area, while it had been normalised in Shimla town, adding that the problem persists in some areas like Chopal, Matyana and Sandhu in the Theog subdivision due to damage to transformers. “The situation is under control. Roads are clear and tourists are welcome,” he added.

The Rohtang pass, Churdhar hills and other high altitude areas received 30 to 50 cm of snow while Shimla town and adjoining tourist resorts of Kufri and Narkanda recorded 15.8 cm, 25 cm and 40 cm of snow while Manali recorded 53 cm of snow followed by Bharmour 45 cm, Kothi 38 cm, Kalpa 22 cm and Udaipur 18 cm.

The lower region received widespread rains and Ghumarwin in Bilaspur was the wettest with Ghumarwin received 27 mm of rains followed by Sarkaghat 24 mm, Dharamsala 22 mm, Palampur and Chamba 21mm each, Bhoranj, Banjar and Kotkhai 20 mm each, Barthin 19 mm, Kheri and Gohar 17 mm each, Nurpur and Baldawra 16 mm each.

However, minimum temperatures rose marginally at many places and Keylong and Kalpa in the tribal Lahaul and Spiti districted recorded a low of minus 4.0°C and minus 3°C, followed by Shimla minus 0.3°C, Manali zero degree, Bhuntar 4.4 °C, Solan 5.4 °C, Nahan 5.7 °C, Sundernagar 6.5 °C, Dharamsala 8.2 °C and Una 9.6 °C.

The government has directed all Deputy Commissioners to give hourly report on the situation to the State Emergency Response Centre. The local Met office has predicted scattered snow and rain at isolated places in the mid and high hills over the next two days.

Meanwhile, unlike the heavy snowfall on January 7 that crippled the normal life, tourists thronged Shimla today ro enjoy the snow. They are not facing any inconvenience while driving and the power supply in the town is by and large normal. The tourism industry is upbeat as the fresh snowfall after the weakened will attract more people. “We woke up today to see a thick blanket of snow and the whole environment was so pious. It is like waking up in a dream world,” said Anirudh, a tourist from Jaipur.