Rain, snow revive cold wave

Tribune News Service

Dehradun, March 1

Fresh snowfall in hills and widespread rain in plains in the state today revived the cold wave. Incessant rain, which made the mercury to fall steeply, caused bone-chilling cold conditions.

State Meteorological Centre Director Dr Anand Sharma has forecast light to moderate rainfall in plains and snowfall in places situated above the height of 2,000 metres in the next 24 hours. Sharma said the weather had changed due to western disturbances.

A warning of heavy rainfall in the next 48 hours has been issued for Chamoli, Uttarkashi and Rudraprayag districts.

The high reaches of Badrinath, Kedarnath, Gangotri, Yamunotri, Chakrata, Auli, Chopta, Joshimath, Harshil, Gopeshwar and Chamoli, were covered with snow. Champawat, Bageshwar, Almora, Pithoragarh and some areas of Nainital also experienced fresh snowfall.

The traffic flow along the Char Dham Yatra route and in hill areas was affected due to incessant rain since Saturday night. The authorities concerned are reportedly working to clear debris from the road for ensuring unhindered traffic movement, but adverse weather conditions are hampering their efforts.

Meanwhile, power supply was disrupted in many parts of Dehradun. The technical staff of Uttarakhand Power Corporation Limited braved a bad weather to rectify technical snags to resume electricity supply to the affected colonies of the city.

EC Road, Rajpur Road, Kalidas Road, Patel Nagar Road and Dharampur were among the worst affected areas. The change in pattern of the municipal water supply was accompanied by erratic power supply.

Incessant rain led to water-logging in many colonies of Dehradun. Traffic jams were noticed at Clock Tower, Panchayati Mandir crossing, Tehsil Chowk, Prince Chowk, ISBT crossing and Saharanpur Chowk of the city.