The Civil Aviation Office has said that all flights from Surkhet and Nepagunj to all the mountainous districts of Karnali have been canceled on Saturday due to snowfall. Due to snowfall, transport services have been closed on about a dozen roads, including the Mid-Hill Highway, Gamgadhi-Nagm and Simkot-Hilsa.
What you should know
After a long drought, most parts of the mountainous districts of Humla, Mugu, Dolpa, Kalikot, and Jumla in Karnali have received heavy snowfall.
The snowfall, which started on Friday night, continued till Saturday morning. Life has become difficult due to the snowfall. It has finally snowed in Karnali after the second week of Mangsir.
All flights from Surkhet and Nepagunj to all the mountainous districts of Karnali have been canceled on Saturday due to the snowfall, the Civil Aviation Office has said. Nearly one foot of snow has accumulated at Simkot Airport in Humla. Transport services have been suspended on about a dozen roads including the Mid-Hill Highway, Gamgadhi-Nagm Road and Simkot-Hilsa due to the snowfall.
Madan Rokaya of Simkot, Humla said that locals are having trouble getting out of their homes due to the snowfall. According to him, all the footpaths leading from Namkha Rural Municipality of Humla to the district headquarters Simkot have been closed due to the heavy snowfall. He said that about 3 feet of snow has fallen in Nara and Nyalu Lakes, which are at an altitude of about 5,000 meters. According to him, the snowfall will continue till Saturday evening.
After the snowfall, the residents of the Himalayan district are hoping for a 'good harvest'. Saturday's snowfall and rain have provided relief to farmers who were worried that their crops were starting to deteriorate due to drought. Birkha Bahadur Rokaya of Murmagau in Mugu said that relief has come to the crops that were drying up due to drought after the snowfall. 'After the snowfall, the good harvest comes in the Himalayan settlements, and in the year when there is no snowfall, there is famine in the Himalayan settlements,' he said. 'Although it is late, there has been enough snow now, and the production of crops, apples and other fruits is expected to increase.' He said that after the snowfall, it is difficult to graze livestock and bring hay.
Rara, the main tourist destination of Karnali, has been turned black due to snowfall. Rara National Park Ranger Dharmajit Saund said that there was about 2 feet of snow in Rara. After the snowfall, the trees around Rara Lake are covered with snow.
Chandra Nepali of Soru-4 Rawalbada said that the current snowfall will benefit the crops from wheat, barley to millet, kaguno, chino, and paddy. According to him, the year of heavy snowfall will bring good harvests as the water level in rivers and springs will increase. ‘There is never a food shortage in the district in a year when there is good snowfall,’ he said, ‘It seems that the compulsion to buy rice from the Food Corporation every year will be eliminated this year.’
After the snowfall, farmers in the Himalayan district have started placing snowballs around apple trees, said Sunil Limbu, spokesperson for the Ministry of Land Management, Agriculture and Cooperatives. According to him, the snowballs have been placed so that the area around the apple trees will be irrigated. ‘The more snow falls, the more apples will be produced,’ he said, ‘Farmers are freed from the hassle of having to irrigate, and the incidence of diseases and pests in apples has also been reduced this year.’
Traffic on the Rukum East-Baglung road section of the Mid-Hill Highway has been disrupted due to snowfall. The highway has been closed due to snowfall in Patihalne and its surroundings. Heavy snowfall has disrupted traffic at the seven-turn intersection along the Gamgadhi-Nagma road in Mugu, while thick snow has accumulated at most places on the Simkot-Hilsa road in Humla, said Humla Chief District Officer Tek Kumar Regmi. He informed that air services will resume only after the snow at Simkot Airport stops.
