Jammu, Sep 23: The Jammu-Srinagar national highway in Ramban district was closed Sunday following a landslide triggered by heavy rains in the Jammu region, officials said.
Several parts of Jammu and Kashmir have been receiving heavy rainfall since the early hours of Sunday, with many high-altitude areas witnessing snowfall as well.
Hundreds of vehicles were left stranded on the 270-km highway, they said.
The officials said incidents of shooting stones from hillocks along the highway were reported from Ramban’s Panthiyal area.
Traffic on the highway was restricted to one-way from Jammu to Srinagar Sunday morning, as a precautionary measure, after the Met forecast adverse weather conditions in the state for the next 48 hours, they said.
Road clearance operation would be launched once the weather improves, the officials said.
Several parts of the Jammu region were lashed by rains since the early hours of Sunday with high-altitude areas, including Bhadarwah in Doda district, experiencing the season’s first snowfall, they said.
Snowfall was reported from Sonbhai and Kailash Kund, the officials said, adding that the higher reaches of Ramban and Reasi district also witnessed their first snowfall.
Due to inclement weather conditions, the temperature dropped in the winter capital, Jammu, which recorded 88.8 mm of rainfall till 0830 hours, a spokesman of the meteorological (Met) office said.
He said the night temperature in the city fell by almost five degrees to settle at 18.9 degrees Celsius, 4.5 degrees below normal during this part of the season.
Similarly, the maximum temperature recorded Saturday was 27 degrees Celsius, 6.3 degrees below the normal, the spokesman said.
