Fresh snow, rain lash Himachal; 205 roads blocked

Tribune News Service

Shimla, January 7

The tribal areas and other higher hills of the state received fresh snowfall while lower and middle hills witnessed widespread rains disrupting normal life. As many as 205 roads were closed due to heavy snow in the state.

The minimum and maximum temperatures rose marginally even as the sky remained heavily overcast and icy winds, accompanied by showers, blew across the region. The local Met office has warned of dense fog at isolated places in lower and middle hills in Una, Bilaspur, Hamirpur, Kangra and Mandi districts till January 9 and predicted rain and snow at isolated places in middle and high hills on January 8, followed by dry weather.

As many as 140 roads were closed in Shimla zone, 38 in Kangra zone and 23 in Mandi zone and men and machinery have been deployed for clearing them. About 120 roads are expected to be opened tomorrow while the remaining 85 roads would be cleared later, sources in the PWD said.

Kalpa in the tribal Kinnaur district received 77 cm of snow while Kothi, Khadrala and Keylong recorded 35 cm, 28 cm and 20 cm of snow, followed by Udaipur with 17 cm, Pooh 15 cm , Kufri 12 cm and Reckong Peo 5 cm.

Manali was the wettest with 52 mm of rains while Dalhousie and Ghumarwin recorded 48 mm and 46 mm of rains, followed by Sangrah 35 mm, Wangtoo 32 mm, Sarahan 31 mm, Bangana 30 mm, Kotkhai, Bharari and Kasol 27 mm each, Seobagh and Jubbal 25 mm each, Kandaghat 24 mm, Reckong Peo and Karsog 23 mm each, Una 21 mm, Saloni, Baijnath and Jatton Barrage 22 mm each, Bajura, Rampur, and Nahan 19 mm, Dharamsala, Shimla ,Banjar, Narkanda, and Morang 18 mm, Kumarsein and Solan 17 mm each, Palampur, Jogindernagar and Baldwara 16 mm each, Sujanpur Tira 15 mm, Naina Devi 14 mm each, Dharampur, Berthin and Paonta Sahib 13 mm each, Gohar, Jubbar Hatti and Nadaun 12 mm each.