Kashmir Valley cut off for fourth day

There was no let off in snowfall, leading to closure of the Srinagar-Jammu National Highway and cancellation of all incoming and outgoing flights scheduled on Wednesday morning.

Kashmir valley remained cut off from rest of the country for fourth consecutive day on Wednesday as there was no let off in snowfall, leading to closure of the Srinagar-Jammu National Highway and cancellation of all incoming and outgoing flights scheduled on Wednesday morning.

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All incoming and outgoing flights scheduled for this morning from Srinagar international airport were cancelled owing to the bad weather, airport sources said.

The schedule flights between Kashmir and rest of the country did not operate yesterday due to poor visibility and heavy snowfall.

Authorities pressed its men and machines to clear the snow on the runway but continuous snowfall hampered the operations.

About seven-feet of snow had accumulated on the ground on the either side of the Jawahar tunnel, the gateway to Kashmir valley till 0830 hours today.

Continuous Heavy snowfall was hampering the operations to clear the arterial road.

About 1150 vehicles were stranded along the highway. About 450 trucks carrying essential commodities were stuck at Manwal and 650 other trucks were also held up at Udhampur, Chanderkote and Banihal, sources said.

Besides, about 50 light motor vehicles and a few buses were also held up at different points on the highway, they said. A few other trucks were stranded at Qazigund awaiting reopening of the highway to return to Jammu, they said.

Fresh snowfall triggered avalanches at various places between Qazigund and Banihal while rains triggered shooting of stones from a mountain at Panthal, 140 kms from here.

The authorities sounded an alert last evening following season's heaviest snowfall in the valley, asking people living in avalanche-prone areas to move to safer areas.