The snow-loving tourists have been making a beeline for the city for the last three days as soon as IMD predicted heavy snowfall. They were seen enjoying snowballs and taking selfies on The Ridge and The Mall throughout the day.
The power and water supplies, however, remained disrupted due to the snowfall and the freezing temperatures but was restored in the evening hours in most of the city. The daily supplies of milk, fruit and vegetables also remained disrupted.
The two feet of snowfall recorded in the upper city areas brought movement of traffic to stand still on the circular road in the capital city. The Upper Shimla areas of Theog, Kumarsain, Kotgarh, Chopal, Jubbal Kotkhai, Rohru remained cut off from the state capital since last night due to the two to three feet of snow, said officials.
National Highways- Manali-Keylong and Shimla-Narkanda-Rampur-Kinnaur-Kaza and state highways - Baghi Khadrala-Tilkkar, Rohru-Sungri, Mandi-Thunag- Janjheli, Mandi-Churag- Karsog, Chamba-Dalhousie, Chamba- Bharmour also remained blocked by the heavy spell of snow, ranging from three feet at Narkanda and Kufri to more than four ft at Khirki , Chharki and Kharapathar.
The tourist town of Manali also remained cut off from Kullu due to the two ft of snow recorded in Manali, said the hoteliers. But the restoration work was on, they said. Manali has also got a good number of tourists, they added.
The snowfall and rains have come as big windfall for the apple farmers and power producers in the state. The glaciers, main spring of water sources in river basins of Chenab, Ravi, Satluj recharged.
The Himalayan ranges and valleys- Pattan, Chandra, Jispa, Tod and Spiti valleys in Lahaul-Spiti, Sangla and Kalpa in Kinnaur, Kuparh and Chanshal, Churdhar in the Apple belt of Shimla district, Kullu, Naggar, Manali, Sainj, Tirthan, Banjar, Soja and Dalash valleies of Kullu district, Thunag, Jhanjheli and Shikari Mata, Kamru Nag valleies of Mandi district wore a sparkling thick cover of snow recording over two feet to six feet of snow, revealed inputs from locals.
SJVNL has already achieved record power generation last month. NHPC and NTPC, HPSEBL also are reporting good power generation targets due to the rains in river sides and heavy snow in the upper region.
The district disaster management authority was on standby to assist and rescue the tourists stranded in snow in the district, but there was no such report so far, said Prince Kukreja, an office bearer of Shimla Hotel and Restaurant Association (SHRA). “The water supplies in the city were disrupted for the last two days due to snowfall”, he said.
PWD and BRO have pressed into service its machineries, but the snow spell continued throughout the day, disrupting the road restoration operation, said Neeraj Kumar DC Lahaul-Spiti.
According to the officials, Koksar in Lahaul-Spiti has received cumulative snowfall of over 12 ft, three to four feet in the lower Chandra, Jispa, Jahalma, Udaipur since last night, with the temperatures dipping to minus 10 degree to 15 degree centigrade.
BRO has started the snow clearing operation from the north portal side towards Keylong which had big piles of snowslides at different places on the highway, said the officials. As and when weather opens, restoration of roads would pick pace, said the BRO and PWD engineers.
