Jammu & Kashmir: Heavy Snowfall Forces Closure of Srinagar-Leh Highway; Phone Lines, Electricity Affected

All telephone lines and electricity supply in the affected areas have been totally snapped.

Manali: Vehicles move slowly after the snow was cleared from Rohtang Pass and opening of the Manali-Keylong road for vehicular traffic, in Manali, Tuesday, Nov.5, 2019. (PTI Photo)

New Delhi: Heavy snowfall wrapped the higher reaches of Kashmir valley incluidng Gulmarg and Sonamarg  in the wee hours of Wednesday. Even Srinagar has been highly affected by the continuous snowfall which has forced the closure of Srinagar-Leh National Highway, Mughal Road and several other hill roads across the State. All telephone lines and electricity supply in the affected areas have been totally snapped. The day-to-day life of people was thrown out of gear as piles of snow collected on streets made commutation next to impossible . "Snowfall was witnessed in higher reaches of Kashmir valley including Gulmarg and Sonamarg in the wee hours of Wednesday while the city and other plains were lashed by rainfall," an official of the MET department said earlier. Also watch: Visuals of snowfall in Solang Nullah in Kullu district near Manali:

#WATCH Himachal Pradesh: Solang Nullah in Kullu district near Manali, received snowfall earlier today pic.twitter.com/E5toSGLUnq

— ANI (@ANI) November 7, 2019

The change in weather normally brings cheers to the faces of the people associated with tourism but they have their fingers crossed in view of the prevailing situation in the valley in the wake of abrogation of Article 370, news agency PTI reported. The downpour in the plains has significantly brought down the day temperature in the city. The winter chill has set in early this year in Kashmir as the maximum temperature during the last couple of days has settled a couple of degrees below normal for this time of the season .