Non-stop rains and snowfall have triggered landslides and flash floods in several of Jammu and Kashmir causing damage to public infrastructure and private property. The Srinagar-Jammu national highway was closed today due to landslides at multiple places along the highway.  A large number of vehicles are stranded along the Highway.

A video showed rocks and debris sliding down a mountainside and falling on the highway.

The highway, the only all-weather road linking Kashmir with rest of the country, was blocked by landslides at Mehar, Gangroo, Mom Passi and Kishtwari Pather in Ramban district.

The rains are continuing, hampering restoration works, officials said, advising commuters to avoid journeys on the highway till it is cleared of the debris.

Kupwara district in north Kashmir was cut off from the rest of the Valley due to flood waters inundating roads and several villages have also been affected by floods.

In Ramban district, a 13-year-old boy was killed after he was hit by a boulder after a landslide.

In the Boniyar area of Baramulla district, seven members of a family were injured after their house collapsed due to landslides.

All schools across Kashmir will remain closed tomorrow in the wake of incessant rains, flash floods and landslides in  several areas.

The Kashmir University has postponed exams that were scheduled for tomorrow.

Banihal/Jammu,:

Vehicular movement was suspended on the Jammu-Srinagar national highway on Sunday following landslides, triggered by overnight rains, at a few places in Ramban district, officials said.

A traffic department official said road clearance work at Kishtwari Pather and Mehar-Cafeteria Morh has been going on since morning to ensure early restoration of traffic on the 270-km-long highway, the only all-weather road linking Kashmir with the rest of the country.

A massive landslide hit Kishtwari Pather near Nachalana in the Banihal area around midnight, while a mudslide and shooting stones from a hillock blocked the road at Mehar-Cafeteria Morh near Ramban town, the officials said.

The traffic department official said that following the landslides, the Srinagar-bound vehicles were stopped at Nagrota in Jammu and at Jakhani in Udhampur this morning. Vehicles heading towards Jammu were not allowed to go beyond Qazigund in south Kashmir.

A truck was damaged after being hit by a rock that rolled down a hillock at Panthiyal in Ramban late on Saturday evening. The truck driver and his helper escaped unhurt, the officials said.

The road is still blocked and people are advised to avoid travelling between the two capital cities till the road is cleared, they said.

The stranded vehicles will be cleared on priority once the restoration work on the route is complete, they added.

The traffic department has said that no heavy motor vehicles (HMVs) will be allowed on the highway from 4 am on Monday to 7 am on Tuesday in view of urgent repairs and upgradation of the airstrip stretch near Bijbehara in south Kashmir’s Anantnag district.

“Light motor vehicles (LMV) shall be diverted to the old national highway alignment between Alistop and Doonipora, including Wanpoh, Khanabal, Batengoo, Padshahi Bagh and Bijbihara. Truck drivers are advised to avoid their journey on the highway from 4 am on April 1 (Monday) to 7 am on April 2 (Tuesday),” the department said.

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