The Srinagar Jammu national highway continues to remain blocked for the fourth consecutive day Friday even as the MeT department predicted improvement in the weather from this afternoon.
Jammu and Kashmir witnessed moderate to heavy rainfall over the past two days which ended a three-month long dry spell across union territory.
The MeT office said that intermittent light to moderate rain spells are expected Friday in Jammu division, south east Kashmir and Ladakh division while the weather is predicted to improve in other places. “Srinagar, Baramulla, Kupwara Bandipur and Ganderbal will have significant improvement in weather,” it said.
According to traffic officials the heavy rainfall triggered landslides and shooting stones at least at 10 places on the Srinagar-Jammu national highway. The highway has been blocked since Tuesday when a large portion of it was washed away in Ramban district.
“Due to the heavy rainfall restoration work has not been completed. Till the restoration work doesn’t get over and landslides are removed, traffic on Jammu-Srinagar national highway will remain closed,” a senior police officer said.
The rain has increased the water level in all the major rivers and streams. The government, however, has ruled out the possibility of floods at this stage though flood control rooms have been activated in some parts of north Kashmir due to surging water levels.
Heavy rain which began in parts of Jammu and Kashmir on Wednesday brought down the temperatures. The rain also brought relief to farmers from the dry weather conditions from the past three months.
Scanty rain had led to very low output in water bodies causing shortage of potable water across Kashmir valley and also affected the agricultural and horticultural produce. The temperatures have also hovered above normal.