Jammu Tawi, Oct 23: Heavy rainfall and hailstorm on Saturday wreaked havoc in most parts of Jammu region. The mercury dipped by five to six degrees below normal as the upper reaches of the region received fresh snowfall. There are reports of serious damages to the crops and orchards in many areas, however, no report of any injury or casualty received till the filing of this report.
The Jammu-Srinagar national highway was closed due to landslides triggered by the heavy rains near Cafeteria More in Ramban district.The rains followed a high speed wind and thunder storm in the wee hours across the region that uprooted trees, electric poles and cables thus snapping power supply since early morning.
Reports from different districts said crops were destroyed and many mud houses suffered damages. In the plains of Jammu, standing crops were severely damaged; and many area and link roads were waterlogged causing inconvenience to commuters. In low lying areas of city, rain water gushed into many houses.
The MeT has forecast heavy rains for Saturday and Sunday.
The towns and civil lines area, there are reports of water-logging in streets and nallahs. In many localities the overflowing drain water entered in the houses that caused substantial damages.
Most places of Kashmir valley experienced a fresh light to moderate snowfall while plains lashed by incessant rains dipped the temperature further and disrupted normal activities on Saturday.
A Meteorological Department official said, moderate rainfall over plains and light to moderate snow was recorded over middle and upper reaches of the Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh during the past 12 hours.
He said, Gulmarg, Pahalgam, Shopian, Zojila, Drass, Zanskar, Gurez and other upper reaches received moderate snowfall on Saturday.
Official sources said, Affarwat received over a foot of snow while the famous ski resort of Gulmarg experienced a few inches much to the delight of the tourists visiting there.
The sources said, Gulmarg was filled with tourists mostly who had come out to experience life in snow were seen frocking with it. It was still lightly snowing there, the sources added.
MeT office said the upper reaches of Pahalgam recorded moderate snowfall while plains had a few inches. Tourist destination of Sonamarg also received moderate snowfall, they added.
He said Zojila, Drass and Zanskar in Ladakh also received moderate snowfall resulting in closure of the Ladakh highway.
The plains of Kashmir valley were lashed by moderate rains since Saturday evening resulting in water logging on many roads and low lying areas. Srinagar recorded 31.6 mm of rain, while Qazigund on Srinagar-Jammu national highway received 58 mm of rain till 0830 hours, a MeT official said.
He said likewise Kokernag and Banihal in south Kashmir also received 50 mm and 48 mm rain respectively while Pahalgam 43.2 mm and Gulmarg 23.8 mm received rains during the period.
It was still raining in most of the places in Kashmir valley, the Met Office said.
The system is likely to persist during the next eight to ten hours and will gradually decrease thereafter. He said significant improvement in weather would be from October 24 afternoon and will remain dry till November 2, the MeT office added.
