3-day wet spell ends, MeT predicts dry weather till May 05

Flood threat reduces as water level recedes in water bodies; Schools remain closed; Major roads, highways still closed for traffic, stranded traffic allowed to play along Sgr-Jmu highway

Srinagar, Apr 30: The flood threat that was looming across Kashmir following the three-day incessant rainfall has come to an end as the weather conditions improved on Tuesday, bringing respite to the people, who were apprehensive of the deluge again after the gap of ten years in Jammu and Kashmir.

However, the threat that loomed large for the past few days also prompted the divisional administration to order a day-long school closure and suspension of class-work as precautionary measure in order to prevent any untoward incident.

Though the weather conditions improved in Kashmir today, the Valley continued to remain cut off as the major roads and highways continued to remain closed for vehicular movement for the second straight day.

According to the news agency—Kashmir News Observer, the officials said that all the major highways and roads have remained closed for the second straight day.

The officials said that the stranded vehicles from Banihal towards Jammu and Nashri towards Srinagar were allowed to ply, but the fresh traffic was not allowed to ply today as well as the restoration work is going on.

The men and machinery have been pressed to restore the Srinagar-Jammu National Highway at several places including Dalwas, Mehad and Magarkote, the officials said, adding that restoration work is going on in these areas.

However, they said that the other roads including Mughal Road, Bandipora-Gurez, Sadhna Top Road, Srinagar-Sonamarg-Gumri (SSG) Road and Bhaderwah-Chamba Road continued to remain closed for vehicular movement today.

Meanwhile, Director Meteorological department, Dr Mukhtar Ahmad has predicted a sigh of relief for the people, saying that the weather conditions are expected to remain dry from tomorrow till May 05.

He told KNO that while the weather would remain mostly dry from May 01-May 05, the possibility of afternoon thundershowers cannot be ruled out. Furthermore, he added that there is forecast of light rains again on May 06.

Pertinently, the class work in all the schools remained suspended for a day as precautionary measure due to the threat of floods that loomed large for the past couple of days.

The water level in river Jhelum and other streams and Nallahs increase due to the incessant three-day wet spell in Jammu & Kashmir.

The water was flowing close to the flood declaration mark at several places in the intervening night of Monday-Tuesday, but as soon as the rains stopped, the water level started receding.

At 8:00 PM, the water level in river Jhelum was flowing at 14.53 ft in Sangam, 4.39m in Pampore, 17.34 ft in Munshibagh and 11.78 ft in Asham.

The other tributaries like Vishow Nallah at Khudwani, was flowing at 4.78 while Rambiyara Nallah at Wachi was flowing at 0.75m. According to the details, Lidder Nallah at Batkoot was flowing at 0.31m while Doodhganga Nallah at Barzulla and Sindh Nalla at Doderhama were flowing at 1.36m and 1.62m respectively—(KNO)