As it snows, people turn to Murree

Traffic snarls give tourists on the way headaches, many choose to stay inside.

ISLAMABAD:

A chill ran through the twin cities as it continued to rain for the second day on Saturday, with Murree the choice for many.

The rain started on Friday morning, and continued till the filing of this report on Saturday evening. Pakistan Meteorological Department (PMD) Director General Dr Arif Mehmood said that 13mm of rain was recorded in Islamabad and 18mm in Rawalpindi, with more rain expected in the next 24 hours.

The continuous rain coupled with cold and a public holiday resulted in many people choosing to stay indoors.

Others, with a sense of adventure, had something else in mind. “I have two options, either to stay at home and watch movies, or go to Murree and see the snow. I chose Murree,” said Jalil Hassan as he refuelled his car in Shamshabad while preparing to drive up to the hill station.

Over a foot of snow fell in Murree and Nathia Gali till Saturday evening, PMD said.

Long queues of vehicles on Murree Road were seen heading to the hill station.

All was not well, however, as many vehicles were stuck in the snow in Lower Topa.

Traffic DSP Rana Tahir said his team of a dozen traffic wardens with four mobile vans were doing their best. “Whenever snowfall starts huge numbers of people come to Murree and it becomes difficult to maintain smooth traffic flow,” he admitted.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 5^th, 2012.