Four national highways among 350 roads closed as snow, rain lash Himachal

Snowfall in the higher reaches of Himachal Pradesh crippled daily life in the tribal Lahaul & Spiti and the Kinnaur districts while 350 roads, including four national highways in the state, were closed for traffic.

Snowfall in the higher reaches of Himachal Pradesh crippled daily life in the tribal Lahaul & Spiti and the Kinnaur districts while 350 roads, including four national highways in the state, were closed for traffic.

The state's mid and low hills were lashed by intermittent rain while the Met office in Shimla has issued a red warning for thunderstorms with lightning, hailstorm and heavy rain at isolated places along with gusty winds reaching speeds of 40-50 kilometres per hour on March 2.

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Snowfall in the higher reaches of the Chamba, Kinnaur and the Lahaul & Spiti districts led to the closure of roads and transformers becoming non-functional.

A maximum 290 roads are closed in Lahaul & Spiti, 32 in Kinnaur, 10 in Mandi, eight in Chamba, seven in Kullu, two in Shimla and one in Kangra. At least 1,314 transformers are out of order in Himachal Pradesh, according to the State Emergency Operation Centre.

The remote Dodra Kwar subdivision of Shimla district has been cut off from the rest of the state with the Shimla-Kinnaur Road being blocked near Negulsari due to shooting stones. The heavy snowfall has also led to the closure of the Rohtang Pass.

Gondla in Lahaul & Spiti received 61.2 cm of snow - the highest in the state. Kukumseri recorded 58 cm snowfall, followed by Keylong at 53 cm, Kalpa at 51.7 cm, Pooh and Pangi at 30 cm each, Khadrala at 16 cm, Sangla at 11.2 cm, Moorang at 9.3 cm, Atal Tunnel at 6 cm. Manali received trace snowfall.