Frozen taps, chilling winds hit life in north (Roundup)

NEW DELHI - Frozen taps, more snow and rain Sunday caught the people helpless in the Himalayan hill towns while the continuing snowfall caused chilling winds in the plains, where cities like Delhi shivered despite the sun.

It was a harrowing day for people in Jammu and Kashmir and Himachal Pradesh where the water taps froze in the severe cold, making their daily chores extremely difficult.

Children were seen lighting small fires around the taps in many localities of Kashmir’s Srinagar city (minimum temperature minus 3.7 degrees Celsius) to defreeze the water while many portions of the Dal Lake remained frozen in the sub-zero temperatures.

“I had to rush to the mosque for ablutions before the morning prayers today. I found almost all my neighbours there for the same reason,” said 61-year-old Abdul Majid in Kashmir’s Ganderbal district.

Mosques across the Valley have arrangements for hot water.

The scenes were similar in Himachal Pradesh’s Shimla. Families in the residential areas located in Shimla’s US Club and Jakhu hills had to battle the frozen taps for their Sunday cooking.

The previous day’s snow fall and rain pulled down the temperature to a stinging minus 3.3 degrees in Shimla.

Road traffic also remained disrupted in upper Shimla for the second day Sunday. A government spokesperson said that no state-run bus has been plying in upper Shimla since Saturday evening as a large number of vehicles were stuck in snow between Kufri and Narkanda.

The snow and the freezing conditions in the Himalayas caused stinging cold winds in Delhi that had people pulling their woollens closer. The mild sun did not make any impact except for helping normal air and rail traffic.

The maximum day temperature in Delhi was 18.2 degrees, but the people did not feel the warmth because of the wind.

Taj city Agra also saw the return of chilly winds after a few warm days of bright sunshine, with the minimum temperature falling to 6 degrees Celsius, a weather official said.

People chose to remain indoors because of the chill. Tourists were seen shivering as the wind swept the Taj Mahal.

Punjab, Haryana and Chandigarh too had cold winds sweeping throughout the day and the sun did not make any difference to the cold conditions.

Punjab’s Amritsar city was coldest at a low of 0.6 degrees. Patiala and Ludhiana recorded minimum temperatures of 6.3 and 3.6 degrees.

Chandigarh registered a minimum of 4.7 degrees after recording a low of 12.2 degrees Saturday.