Rain/snowfall lash lower Chitral, major roads blocked
CHITRAL: Heavy snowfall in town and nearby areas on Sunday crippled routine life with reports of road blockades in most parts of the valley.
Police said Chitral’s link with other parts of the country was blocked and there were reports of a large number of passengers stranded on both sides of the Lowari tunnel.
A heavy avalanche blocked the Garam Chashma road at Mogh village. The Chitral police said its personnel had been put on alert to help passengers wherever roads were blocked. It also released pictures of policemen pushing vehicles stuck up in snow.
The snowfall started on Saturday night and till Sunday afternoon, 11 inch of snow had fallen on the road in Chitral side of Lowari tunnel, four inch in Ursoon valley, two feet in Gobor, 18 inch in Bigusht, eight inch in Garam Chashma, six inch in Shagram, nine inch in Khot, seven inch in Booni, three inch in Yarkhun and 18 inch in Madaklasht.
The C&W department said it had deputed heavy machinery on Chitral-Booni road, Ayun-Bumburate road and Chitral-Garam Chashma road to keep the roads open for traffic.
The lowest minimum temperature of -2 degrees centigrade was recorded in Drosh on Sunday. With the latest snowfall, movement of people was restricted with a very light traffic even on the road to down country. The prices of firewood and liquefied petroleum gas also increased as their demands went up.