By IANS,
Srinagar : A nightlong windstorm damaged hundreds of homes, uprooted trees, shattered windowpanes and blocked roads in Kashmir Valley Tuesday, officials said.
Schools throughout Kashmir have been closed as the unprecedented windstorm kept residents on tenterhooks. The administration has advised all its wings to remain in a state of maximum preparedness to meet the crisis.
“Hundreds of homes have been damaged because of the windstorm. Roofs have been blown away at many places; trees uprooted by the windstorm have blocked roads, damaged homes at other places,” a senior officer of the divisional administration told IANS.
“We are gathering information from different districts to assess the actual damage caused. No loss of life has so far been reported from anywhere in the valley.”
The officer also said all district headquarters have been converted into emergency headquarters to meet the crisis.
Strong winds blowing across the Dal Lake in Srinagar city have also damaged many houseboats.
“Many houseboats have suffered damage because of the windstorm. In some cases, the occupants barely managed to escape with life as their houseboats were precariously jolted and rattled in the windstorm,” said Muhammad Azim Tuman, chairperson of the local houseboat owners’ association.
“An unusually low pressure system developed over the valley yesterday (Monday). The windstorm is the result of this low pressure system. The weather should improve from today noon onwards,” an official of the local weather office told IANS.
Junaid Kawoos, a senior bank official living in Omar colony residential area of Srinagar, said, “All of us were awake for the entire night. It looked as if the world would end. Literally everything shook around.”
Reports reaching here from Leh town of Ladakh region also said the nightlong windstorm had created panic there.