Heavy snowfall in Shimla, Kufri, Narkanda

Tribune News Service

Shimla, February 7

Heavy snowfall in the capital city, Kufri and Narkanda has brought all vehicular movement to a grinding halt.

Within an hour, almost 19 cms of snow had been recorded in Shimla while Kufri, Narkanda, Khara Pathar and Chopak also received heavy snowfall.

It was with great difficulty that Chief Minister, his Cabinet colleagues and officers reached home from the Vidhan Sabha where discussions on the budget to be presented on February 9 were being held.

Traffic on the Cart Road here got disrupted with several vehicles skidding. There are reports of vehicles being stranded at Kufri and Narkanda.

The government today issued an advisory to locals as well as tourists in view of snow and avalanche warning in five districts of Chamba, Lahaul-Spiti, Shimla, Kinnaur and Kullu during the next 24 hours.

Following the avalanche warning by the Snow and Avalanche Study Establishment (SASE), Manali, the Himachal Pradesh State Disaster Management Authority (HPSDMA) has issued an advisory for snow and avalanche from February 7 evening to February 8.

The district administration has been directed to convey bad weather warning to all grassroots functionaries and locals, advising them not to venture into snowbound areas.

Most higher reaches experienced snow while mid and low areas were hit by rain and thundershowers. Life was thrown out of gear in Lahaul Spiti. The lowest temperature was recorded at Keylong at minus 7.6 Celsius while Una was the warmest at 22 degrees. Shimla registered a minimum of 4.3 degrees and maximum of 16 degrees Celsius.

The local Meteorological Centre has forecast rain and thundershowers in most parts of the state tomorrow, which is likely to result in further dip in mercury.

A spokesperson of the state government said here that all district disaster management authorities had been advised to monitor the situation in their areas and take precautionary measures.