Murree received an additional 1.5 feet of snow PHOTO: FILE
The second snowfall of the season was less fun and more trouble for tourists headed towards Murree. Thousands of tourists on Saturday were stuck in traffic for hours. Some were even turned back.
Murree received an additional 1.5 feet of snow on Saturday, according to an 8pm update by the Pakistan Meteorological Department on its website. This is in addition to the two feet snow that fell on Friday. Islamabad received 39mm of rainfall on Friday night and Saturday, while Rawalpindi received 32mm of rain. Galyaat and the surrounding areas, including Nathiagali, received up to three feet of snow on Friday night and Saturday.
A number of traffic wardens were deputed along the two highways leading to Murree. However, the traffic slowed down to a snarl due to the overwhelming number of people going uphill.
A traffic warden said the traffic from Sunny Bank Chowk to Bansra Gali was “completed stuck”.
Muhammad Israr, who had planned to spend his Saturday in Murree, spent it instead in his car. “I left Islamabad at 10:30am for Murree and I am still on the road,” he said at 8pm.
City Traffic Officer (CTO) Syed Ishtiaq said the traffic was choked on both the Rawalpindi-Murree Kashmir Highway and the Islamabad-Murree Expressway. He added that the traffic police had issued an advisory against travelling on the expressway, but people ignored it. The traffic police, thus, had to shut down the two roads in the later half of Saturday. “We had to shut down the two highways due huge numbers of vehicles that had entered since Saturday morning,” CTO Ishtiaq said, adding that the roads will be opened to traffic on Sunday.
PMD Director General said snowfall in Murree, Galiyat and adjoining areas will continue on Sunday (today).
Published in The Express Tribune, December 30th, 2012.
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