Jammu-Srinagar national highway closed after landslide

Jammu, September 23

The Jammu-Srinagar national highway in Ramban district was closed on Sunday following a landslide triggered by heavy rain in the Jammu region, officials said.

Several parts of the regions have been receiving heavy rainfall since the early hours of Sunday, with many high-altitude areas witnessing their first snowfall of the season. 

Hundreds of vehicles were left stranded on the 270-km all-weather road linking Kashmir with the rest of the country, they said.

The officials said incidents of shooting stones from hillocks along the highway were reported from Ramban’s Panthiyal area in Jammu and Kashmir.

Traffic on the highway was restricted to one way from Jammu to Srinagar on Sunday morning as a precautionary measure after the Met forecast adverse weather conditions in the state for the next 48 hours, they said.

Road clearance operation would be launched once the weather improves, the officials said.  

Several parts of the Jammu region were lashed by rain since the early hours of Sunday with high-altitude areas, including Bhadarwah in Doda district, experiencing the season’s first snowfall, they said.                 

Snowfall was reported from Sonbhai and Kailash Kund, the officials said, adding that the higher reaches of Ramban and Reasi district also witnessed their first snowfall.

Due to inclement weather conditions, the temperature dropped in the state’s winter capital, Jammu, which recorded 88.8 mm of rainfall till 0830 hours, a spokesman of the meteorological (Met) office said.

He said the night temperature in the city fell by almost five degrees to settle at 18.9 degrees Celsius, 4.5 degrees below normal during this part of the season.

Similarly, the maximum temperature recorded Saturday was 27 degrees Celsius, 6.3 degrees below the normal, the spokesman said.

He said Reasi district, which houses the famous shrine of Mata Vaishno Devi, recorded 85 mm of rainfall followed by Ramban (48.6 mm) and Doda (47.4 mm). PTI