Heavy snowfall severely effects plane movements in Srinagar; Many flights cancelled

Srinagar, Feb 7: Heavy snowfall has severely effected flight operations at the Srinagar Airport on Thursday morning and a majority of flights have been cancelled. The flight operations, as of now, remain suspended at the Srinagar airport due to poor visibility and heavy snowfall.

Even the road traffic between Kashmir and rest of the country is severely effected due to heavy snowfall across the valley. The Jammu-Srinagar highway remained closed for the second consecutive day on Thursday due to fresh snowfall and landslides.

All flights of GoAir and IndiGo, two SpiceJet flights, one AirAsia flight and an Army charter flight were cancelled, reported ANI on Thursday.

Of the 27 flights scheduled to arrive at the Srinagar airport, 15 were cancelled due to poor visibility and heavy snowfall, an official of the Airport Authority of India said on Wednesday afternoon. He said if there is no improvement in the weather conditions, the possibility of other flights arriving was bleak.

The traffic control department said the arterial Srinagar-Jammu road had to be closed for traffic following heavy snowfall and rains, which triggered landslides at several places.

"No vehicles are being allowed on the highway due to landslides caused by rain and snowfall," the official told news agency PTI.

Snowfall in Kashmir Valley; Kashmir snowfall in pics:

Man clearing snow off a car near Banihal railway station

The snowfall began early morning at most places in the Valley and was heavy in intensity in south Kashmir, where mountainous stretches of the highway are most susceptible to disruption during bad weather. The fresh snowfall in the valley also affected normal life as electricity supply is down in many areas while many roads in the rural areas have been blocked due to snow.

A vehicle moving on a snow-covered road during snowfall in Srinagar

Kashmir is witnessing a fresh spell of wet weather with higher reaches receiving heavy snowfall and plains lashed by a mix of rain and snow.

Boatmen row a boat during fresh snowfall at Dal Lake in Srinagar

The highway shutdown and cancellation of flights are latest in a series of disruptions due to stormy weather in recent weeks which has led to shortage of supplies in the region as well as large accumulation of stranded passengers.

A view of snow-covered Shimla

Other parts of the hills in north India are also witnessing massive snowfall. Himachal weather reports predict more snow for the week in a number of regions in the state, especially over the weekend. As per the weather report, Himachal will see another bout of snowfall from February 6 to February 8, and has also issued an alert in the hill state. The district administrations have been advised to keep search and rescue teams on standby and ask people to avoid travel.There are chances of heavy snowfall at some places in Kullu, Chamba, Lahaul-Spiti, Shimla, Kangra and Kinnaur districts from Wednesday.

(Images courtesy - PTI)