Rain, snowfall hit normal life in north India

, Jan 18: The skies opened up over northern India on Friday, Jan 18 as rain and

lashed the region, throwing normal life out of gear, especially in the hill states of Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand.

New Delhi was in for a bout of inclement weather as rain and hailstorm lashed the national capital overnight, picking up pace this morning. According to the MeT department, the 33.5 mm rainfall in the national capital over the last 36 hours brought the maximum temperature down to 16.4 degrees Celsius, four notches below normal.

At 8:30 AM today, the city had received 21 mm rainfall in 24 hours to better the record of 15.6 mm rain measured in January 2003. The downpour and hailstorm left many parts of the city reeling under water-logging and traffic snarls. Vehicular movement was affected in several areas like ITO, Vikas Marg and South Extension while many parts of the city were left without power supply.

The weatherman has predicted mainly clear skies for tomorrow with fog in the morning. Further north, heavy snowfall affected normal life in Kashmir which was cut off from the rest of the country with the Srinagar-Jammu national highway closed and air traffic suspended.

Snowfall, which began yesterday, has resulted in snapping of electricity and water supply in many areas of the Valley, official sources said. An official of the disaster management cell said that the ski resort of Gulmarg in north Kashmir received the highest snowfall in the state with an accumulation of three feet of fresh snow.

Himachal Pradesh, too, was hard hit by rains and snowfall which continued for the third day today with many areas in the state cut off in the rough weather. State capital Shimla recorded 45cm of snow while Manali, Narkanda, Fagu, Khara Patthar and other tourist resorts in the higher reaches had received between 65cm to 90cm of snow till afternoon today.

The Hindustan-Tibet national highway was closed while traffic to Rampur was being routed via Basantpur-Kingal road. Power supply was disrupted in Kullu, Manali and Lahaul and Spiti where people have been advised to stay indoors in view of an avalanche threat. In Uttarakhand, popular tourist resorts of Mussoorie and Dhanolti, too, received snowfall even as heavy rains accompanied by strong winds and hailstorms lashed the plains of the state to cause a drop in temperatures.

PTI