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Two more killed as Kashmir records heavy snowfall
On Saturday, three persons putting up in tents at Awantipora had died after a soil embankment had collapsed due to heavy rains in Pulwama district.
Two persons died and two were rescued on Sunday after the vehicles they were travelling in got stranded in snow on Sinthan Pass in south Kashmir’s Anantnag district, taking the death toll due to inclement weather to five.
Police identified the two deceased as Imtiyaz Ahmad and Dawood Majeed, residents of Kishtwar. “The duo was driver and conductor of a vegetable vehicle. They got stuck in snowfall,” said a police official.
The rescued persons are Amir Ahmad and Sajad Ahmad, both residents of Kishtwar were treated for hypothermia and shock. “They have been sent to their homes,” police control room Anantnag informed.
Deputy Commissioner Anantnag, Piyush Singla said that a rescue operation was launched by administration, police, army and SDRF during the night after learning about stranded persons and vehicles at Sinthan Pass at Kokernag. “Two vehicles were stuck along with four persons. We were trying to rescue them during the day but we had no contact. We could only contact one of them in the late evening,” Singla said.
“The snowfall was heavy and we pushed men and machinery including excavators and JCB to clear the road. We also took the help of army. In the morning at around 5, the teams were able to rescue two of them while unfortunately the other two lost their lives,’ he said.
On Saturday, three persons putting up in tents at Awantipora had died after a soil embankment had collapsed due to heavy rains in Pulwama district. The three belonged to nomad community from Jammu’s Rajouri district.
The weather, however, cleared in Jammu and Kashmir on Sunday with no major rain or snowfall in the region after heavy rains and snowfall on Friday and Saturday.
The Srinagar - Jammu national highway was closed for the second day for fresh traffic. However, the authorities said that stranded vehicles were allowed to move after the road was cleared of the blockades.
“The work on the road is going on while stranded vehicles are slowly allowed to move. The road will open for traffic on Monday if weather continues to improve,” an official of traffic control room said.
Director meteorological department in J&K Sonam Lotus said that the weather outlook for the next 10 days is mainly dry. “Light rain or snow may occur at isolated places during November 1-2, although chances are less,” he said
The union territory was under the influence of a western disturbance since Friday evening bringing heavy rains and snowfall in the region, according to the weather department officials. Weather office said that the spell brought record rainfall in many parts of the region.
The summer capital Srinagar’s observatory of the meteorological department recorded a cumulative rainfall of 66 mm on Friday and Saturday. “The previous extreme rainfall record for the month of October in Srinagar was 65.4 mm in 1966,” said deputy director MeT Mukhtar Ahmad.
The mountainous resort of Pahalgam received 111 mm rains during the two days against 67. 2 mm record in October, 1982. In Jammu, Katra recorded 124.5 mm rains breaking the record of 92.2 mm in the October of 2000.
