Authorities suspended traffic on the strategic Jammu-Srinagar National Highway for the second consecutive day on Tuesday after multiple landslides triggered by heavy rain in Ramban district, PTI reported. There were fresh landslides at Digdol in Ramban district.
Meanwhile, four persons died and three were injured in flash floods triggered by the rain in Jammu region, reported PTI.
Several passengers in more than 400 vehicles were stranded as the landslides led to massive traffic jams. “It is still raining heavily in the affected stretch of the highway,” an unidentified traffic official told IANS. “Road clearance operation will be begin soon after the rain stops.”
Roads in Reasi district were closed while those in Kishtwar and Rajouri districts were damaged due to flooding. In Kathua district, a portion of a road has been washed away by flash floods at Basholi.
But, traffic personnel said Mughal Road, connecting the districts of Poonch and Rajouri in Jammu region with south Kashmir’s Shopian district, was opened for two-way traffic.
On Monday, there were landslides in Ramban and Udhampur districts. The Border Roads Organisation cleared the highway and made the stretch motorable for a brief period before fresh landslides blocked it again. Traffic on the Srinagar-Leh highway was also suspended on Monday after a landslide hit the Sonamarg-Drass stretch.
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