Road and air links between the Kashmir Valley and rest of the country were snapped on Saturday, 3 November, as Srinagar witnessed snowfall in November for the first time since 2009.
"In the last two decades, it was only the fourth time that it has snowed in Srinagar in November with 2009, 2008 and 2004 being the earlier instances," an official of the MeT Department had said.
As a result, several trees were uprooted. This affected the electricity connections across Kashmir. The National highway was also closed, leading to traffic and choking points all along it.
The Jammu-Srinagar national highway was opened for one-way traffic on Sunday, 4 November, a day after being closed due to heavy snowfall and landslides, and over 700 stranded commuters were rescued overnight from the Jawahar tunnel area, officials said.
In addition, 1,000 civilians, who were stuck in other parts of the highway, were also provided food and shelter in Banihal by police and the civil administration, a police official said.
Anita Sharma, Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) of Ramban, said stranded passengers who were evacuated from the Jawahar tunnel area and brought to Banihal late Saturday night, were allowed to move towards Jammu on Sunday.
According to the police officials, clearance operation are still underway at some areas of the highway.
The snowfall added to the troubles of farmers whose trees have got damaged in the recent snowfall.
(With inputs from PTI)
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