Heavy snowfall surprises Valley, cripples life

Normal life was thrown out of gear in Kashmir on Saturday as several parts of the Valley received moderate to heavy snowfall, disrupting air, road and rail connectivity.

The snowfall began on Friday afternoon and continued till Saturday morning, ending a long dry spell and also surprising the weatherman, who had not predicted such a heavy spell.

According to the Meteorological Department, south Kashmir areas received two to three feet of snow while it stood at 6-7 inches in Srinagar. North Kashmir comparatively saw lesser snowfall, the department said.

Meteorological Department Director Mukhtar Ahmad said the weather was expected to improve from Sunday. “The heavy snowfall surprised us too. Nature’s wish, it seemed,” he said.

Ahmad said this amount of snowfall in the month of December was received for the first time after 2021. The minimum temperature remained close to the freezing point in almost all parts of the Valley on Friday night.

Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, who drove to his constituency Ganderbal, convened a video conference-meeting with the Deputy Commissioners across Jammu and Kashmir to review operations for clearing snow and restoring essential services. “The CM directed the officials to deploy adequate manpower and machinery on the ground,” a government spokesperson said, adding the district administrations had been instructed to provide two-hourly updates to the offices of the CM and the Chief Secretary.

In a post on X, Omar said of the 739 dysfunctional 11KV feeders, 639 had been restored, “bringing a major relief to the Valley”. “A majority of the rest are expected to be restored soon,” he said.

In remote areas as well, officials said, the restoration process was underway. Pulwama Deputy Commissioner Basharat Qayoom told The Tribune that in his district, restoration work was underway on a war footing. Srinagar Airport Director Javed Anjum said 35 flights were cancelled on Saturday. “We are hopeful normal operations will resume on Sunday morning,” he said.

The vital Srinagar-Jammu National Highway was closed too. Hundreds of vehicles were stranded on the highway, especially after snow accumulated at Qazigund, the gateway to Kashmir, said officials.

Several travellers told The Tribune that it took them nearly 16 hours to complete an otherwise five-hour journey between Jammu and Srinagar.

Ravinder Paul Singh, SP (Traffic), Rural Kashmir, said almost all light motor vehicles which were stranded had been cleared.