A carpet of snow, youngsters sculpting snowmen and rapturous vacationers – after a decade of erratic winter climate, the early snowfall this season is bringing cheers to the Valley. By Friday and Saturday, most of Kashmir Valley, together with Srinagar, acquired the season’s first snow, with many locals opening their houses and mosques to stranded vacationers and locals.
Because the snowfall made the roads slippery for vehicular motion and left a whole bunch of vacationers and locals stranded alongside the Srinagar-Jammu nationwide freeway and different components of the Valley, there have been a number of studies of locals opening up houses and mosques to assist these affected.
“Heartening to see Kashmiris opening their masjids and houses to stranded vacationers amidst heavy snowfall,” Mirwaiz Umar Farooq posted on X. “This gesture of heat and humanity displays our longstanding custom of hospitality and assist in instances of want.”
A number of hundred vacationers, who have been coming back from the Sonamarg vacationer vacation spot, have been stranded between Gagangir and Gund villages in Kagan. Because the automobiles got here to halt due to the snow, the villagers opened their houses and the Jamia Masjid Gund for stranded vacationers.
“Once we have been knowledgeable that a lot of vacationers have been stranded, our volunteers from totally different villages got here out to assist them. The villagers opened their houses for them,” stated Irfan Raina, the chairman of the Civil Society Tehsil Gund that helped the vacationers alongside the administration committee of the Jamia Masjid.
Raina stated that round 1,000 vacationers have been accommodated within the villages of Gund. “We accommodated the ladies and kids in our houses and offered them with meals and heat water,” he stated. “The lads have been accommodated within the Jamia Masjid.”
A lot of vacationers have been stranded contained in the Navyug tunnel that connects the Kashmir valley with the Jammu area, with a number of individuals claiming that vehicular emission and sub-zero temperatures made visibility poor within the tunnel.
Whereas the Srinagar-Jammu freeway has been closed for site visitors, all of the flights coming to and leaving from the Srinagar airport have been cancelled. “Jammu-Srinagar NHW continues to be closed. Clearance work is happening, Man & equipment is on job. Commuters are suggested to keep away from journeys on NH-44 until the climate improves and the highway is obvious,” the site visitors police posted on X.
The Airport Authority of Srinagar stated: “On account of dangerous climate circumstances, all flights at Srinagar Airport have been cancelled. Passengers are suggested to contact their airways for updates. We remorse the inconvenience and recognize your understanding”.
Snowfall started on later Friday afternoon and continued into Saturday. Whereas round eight inches of snow was recorded in Srinagar metropolis, some components of south Kashmir acquired round two toes of snow.
Mukhtar Ahmad, director of the Meteorological Division in Kashmir, stated the snow was “sudden”. “It is a basic case of WD (Western disturbance),” he instructed The Indian Categorical.
The dramatic onset of snow marks the primary week of the Chillai Kalan, or ‘the mighty chilly’ – the toughest 40-day interval of winter. Usually lasting from December 21 to finish January, the snow in Chillai Kalan has been an more and more uncommon phenomenon in Kashmir within the final twenty years. Snow in Chillai Kalan, when the temperatures plummet a number of notches beneath zero levels, lasts longer and helps to refill the glaciers, a significant supply of water within the Valley.
With Kashmir witnessing an estimated 83 % of rainfall deficiency within the final three months, this dramatic change is seen as welcome reduction.
However the heavy snow has additionally snapped energy strains in most components of the state and led to highway closures.
Whereas electrical energy was restored in some components by Saturday afternoon, outages continued in different components of Kashmir. Chief Minister Omar Abdullah stated Saturday that he’s monitoring the scenario and promised that electrical energy in many of the components of the Valley shall be restored by Saturday night.
“In Kashmir area, 41 feeders of 33 KV degree and 739 feeders of 11 KV degree are down. None at 132 KV degree and 220 KV,” Abdullah posted on X. “Restoration work is underway and greater than 90% (of the) feeders are anticipated to be up and practical by as we speak night. I’m in common contact with the PDD staff to watch the scenario.”
Why must you purchase our Subscription?
You wish to be the neatest within the room.
You need entry to our award-winning journalism.
You don’t wish to be misled and misinformed.
Select your subscription package deal
