National Highway-5 from Kinnaur to Kaza blocked due to heavy snowfall

National Highway-5 from Kinnaur to Kaza is blocked at Malling-Nalla near Nako in Kinnaur district on Monday due to heavy snowfall, an official said.

After heavy snowfall, the road was blocked and many vehicles got stranded on both lanes.

The Superintendent of Shimla Police (SP), Mohit Chawla said, "A record of 1,41,000 vehicles have crossed the Shoghi barrier in the queen of hills Shimla in the last 10 days which is double of the normal traffic. 17, 000 vehicles at Christmas while 18,000 vehicles entered Shimla on December 31 for New Year celebrations."

Shimla Police has also been alerted in view of the snowfall in Shimla. Tourists are constantly arriving in Shimla to see snowfall. The police have already deployed teams in Dhali and Kufri to prevent tourists from getting caught in the snowfall. Quick Response Teams (QRT) and State Police Officers (SRO) teams have also been deployed in the city.

Mohit Chawla said traffic in Shimla may increase after the snowfall warning, in view of which the police have made all the arrangements.

"Today, the NH-5 got blocked due to heavy snowfall at Malling Nalla in Kinnaur," he added.

The India Meteorological Department (IMD) on Monday had predicted heavy snowfall in Himachal Pradesh.

"Isolated heavy rain/snowfall also likely over Jammu and Kashmir, Ladakh, Gilgit-Baltistan and Muzaffarabad on January 4 and 5; over Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand on January 5 and isolated heavy rainfall over northern parts of Punjab on January 4 and 5, 2021", IMD tweeted.

A press release by Ministry of Earth Science on January 3 stated that on January 5, thunderstorm accomped with lightning and hail at isolated places very likely over Jammu and Kashmir, Ladakh, Gilgit-Baltistan, Muzaffarabad, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand and West Uttar Pradesh.

On January 3, Kullu district police evacuated a total of 82 tourist vehicles stranded due to heavy snowfall from the south portal area of Atal tunnel near Dhundhi in Kullu district.

( With inputs from ANI )