Several areas in Jammu and Kashmir faced power cuts and parts of Srinagar were water-logged on Tuesday because of heavy snowfall, local media reported. Snow clearance work was under way on Wednesday morning on Mughal Road, which connects Poonch and Shopian districts, ANI reported.

The snowfall damaged power lines at many places, including Srinagar, after which the Power Development Department had to cut electricity, Rising Kashmir reported. The Srinagar Municipal Corporation deployed staff and machines to clear the water-logged areas. “All the 70 dewatering stations were functional,” Chief Sanitation Officer Sofi Muhammad Akbar told Greater Kashmir.

The Jammu-Srinagar Highway remained closed for vehicular traffic for the third day on Wednesday due to heavy rain and snowfall, the police said. The highway is the only all-weather road linking Kashmir to the rest of India.

The India Meteorological Department has forecast rain in the plains and snowfall in the higher reaches of the state till Thursday.

Minimum temperatures throughout the Kashmir Valley and Ladakh region remained below the freezing point on Wednesday. Gulmarg recorded the lowest temperature at minus 9.8 degrees Celsius, IANS reported.

Rescue operations are still on to trace the five soldiers who went missing after an avalanche struck a forward post in the Gurez sector in Bandipora district on Tuesday. Some reports have said that three of the soldiers died. An Army porter died in another avalanche.