Rains batter Bandipora plains, snow blankets Gurez

Bandipora, Apr 29:  Incessant rains in north Kashmir’s Bandipora continued to batter the region on Monday.

With the water level increasing in the streams, rivulets, and Wular Lake, Gurez Valley was blanketed with moderate snowfall.

Officials and locals said that Dawar received 1 foot of snowfall while Tulail received 2 feet of snowfall, triggering the closure of Bandipora-Gurez and Dawar-Tulail roads.

“The situation in Gurez Valley is normal although both Tulail and Bandipora roads were closed,” Sub Divisional Magistrate, Gurez, Mukhtar Ahmad told Greater Kashmir.

"The valley isn’t flood-prone. So far, there is no report of any damage. We haven’t received any reports of snow slides or landslides hitting the areas here,” he said.

Ahmad said that the Razdan Top, the gateway to the Gurez Valley, was buried under 2 feet of snow.

Meanwhile, incessant rains swelled the Wular Lake with officials and locals reporting water logging in low-lying areas around the lake, particularly agricultural fields and orchards.

The locals from Kanibathi, Ahshtengoo, Laharwalpora, Khenusa, Banyari and other low-lying areas said that the Wular Lake waters flooded the mustard fields and in some places the orchards, causing damage to the crops.

Ghulam Muhammad Lone from Zurimanz said that the increased water level had inundated the village’s road.

However, he said that the overall situation in the village was normal.

A retaining wall of a government school at Check Arsalan Khan village collapsed due to incessant rains.

Although there were no reports of any major damage, the control room officials said that rock slides in some areas forced the closure of some roads.

“The rain sent rocks rolling at several places on the Ketson-Aloosa road while the traffic on the road remained suspended on Monday,” officials said. “The rock slides also temporarily blocked traffic on the Bandipora-Srinagar road near Bazipora.” According to officials, the rockslides also triggered the closure of the Ajas-Behal road. “There were reports of waterlogging in low-lying areas around Wular Lake and landslides too hit some areas,” a District Control Room official, who was monitoring the situation, said.

Meanwhile, the district administration constituted tehsil-wise control rooms to monitor the situation arising from incessant rains and circulated numbers for any assistance to the public in distress.