Sections of motorway closed for traffic owing to dense fog

LAHORE: Lahore, Gojra and Faisalabad motorways have been closed for traffic owing to thick fog that has engulfed different parts of the province, ARY News reported.

The motorway sections of Lahore, Pindi Bhattian and Faisalabad have been closed for traffic as visibility limit dropped to zero.

The commuters were requested to avoid unnecessary travel by the Motorway police. They have also been asked to contact the helpline 130 before setting out for journey.

Intense fog has engulfed most of the plains of Punjab’s Lahore and Faisalabad with the visibility limit restricted causing travel on the National Highway and the motorways difficult.

The Pakistan Meteorological Department (PMD) forecast rain spell and snowfall across the country from Friday to Monday, ARY News reported on Thursday.

Widespread rain, thunderstorm and snowfall caused disasters mainly in Balochistan from Thursday night where nine people died in rain-related incidents while more than 500 houses were partially or fully destroyed.

According to data released by the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA), at least 15 people lost their lives while 31 others suffered wounds in different incidents caused by the recent spate of heavy rains in parts of the country.

Four people were killed in similar incidents in tribal districts – the erstwhile Federally Administrated Tribal Areas (Fata) – while two other persons died in other parts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

On the other hand, Galiyat was hit by heaviest snow in 31 years, said the Galiyat Development Authority (GDA). The spokesperson said it would take some time restore traffic in the territory because of intense snow cover, while roads are covered with almost 3-feet snow and further snowfall was expected that would make the situation worse, the spokesperson added.