Red alert in J&K amid forecast of heavy to very heavy rain, snow; emergency helplines active [details]

Amid the forecast of heavy to very heavy snowfall in the next 48 hours, the Meteorological Department (MeT) on Friday issued a red alert in the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir.

Authorities set up emergency helplines in different districts on Friday in Jammu and Kashmir after the forecast of the MeT department for the next two days.

"Currently it is snowing at most places of Kashmir and hilly areas of Jammu and rain at a few places of Jammu region. Intensity set to increase as the day progresses with main activity tonight and tomorrow on January 8 leading to heavy rain and snow in J&K", the MeT department stated in an advisory issued on Friday.

Warning of avalanches issues

A medium-level avalanche danger warning has been issued by the disaster management authority advising people living in avalanche-prone areas not to leave their homes unless necessary. MeT department cautioned that most avalanches occurred during heavy snowfall.

Meanwhile, the MeT department informed that Srinagar recorded rainfall of 3.1mm in the last 24 hours. Srinagar recorded a low of 2.6°C against the previous night's 0.3°C. It was 4.5°C above normal for this time of the year in Srinagar.

Gulmarg recorded a low of minus 5.5°C against minus 3.4°C on the previous night at the world-famous resort.

Pahalgam, the famous resort in south Kashmir which had 0.4cms of fresh snowfall recorded a low of minus 0.4°C against minus 0.8°C on the previous night.

Drass town of Ladakh had minus 12.4, Leh minus 10.5, and Kargil minus 9.8 as the night's lowest temperature.

Jammu-Srinagar national highway closed

The traffic on the 270-km Jammu-Srinagar national highway and the Mughal Road was suspended on Friday due to heavy snowfall and landslides.

The Jammu-Srinagar national highway, the only all-weather road linking Kashmir with the rest of the country, was blocked by a massive landslide triggered by heavy rains at Cafeteria Morh near Ramban town, forcing the suspension of traffic.

On Wednesday, a motorist, Adil Bashir of Bemona, Srinagar, was killed and another injured when a boulder fell on their car near Jaswal bridge in Ramban district.

Meanwhile, Mughal Road and Sinthan Top, two other roads linking Jammu's Poonch and Kishtwar districts with Kashmir Valley, too, were closed due to snowfall.

Narrow escape for people after a massive landslide near Nagrotra

Passengers of two vehicles had a narrow escape during a massive landslide at Ban Toll Plaza near Nagrotra on Jammu-Srinagar national highway.

CCTV footage of the toll plaza which has gone viral on social media reflected that it was a narrow escape for vehicles passing through the lane during the landslide. Reports said that traffic on the toll plaza was disturbed after the landslide but all people were safe.

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