QUETTA, Feb 18: Quetta Valley and many other cities in Balochistan on Tuesday received significant snowfall for the first time since the drought hit the province five years ago.

Snowfall in Kalat, Ziarat, Kan Mehtarzai, Qila Abdullah, Pishin, hilly areas of the Chaghai district and Qila Saifullah started in the morning and continued intermittently the whole day. Weather pundits have forecast more rain and snowfall in Quetta for the next 24 hours.

Kalat received more than two feet of snow, Quetta Valley received six inches and in Ziarat and Kan Mehtarzai it was recorded at 1.5 feet.

The road to Ziarat and Chotair Kan Mehtarzai has been lying closed since Monday following the snowfall in the area. Hundreds of picnickers who left Quetta in cars and other vehicles for Hanna and Orak Valley to witness the heavy snowfall, were trapped in a traffic jam.

People were happy to see the white layers of snow in the Quetta Valley after a long time. “It is a blessing,” said Malik Sher Mohammad, a resident of Hanna Valley.

“We have seen such a snowfall after 10 years,” said Ali Aamir, a university student.

Orchard owners in the outskirts of Quetta welcomed the snowfall which, they believed, would improve the chances for a better fruit crop in the coming season.

In the plains, mainly in Chaghai, over 1,800 people belonging to 310 families were marooned after hill torrents washed away their villages. At least three villages were destroyed.

“Three children who were swept away in currents were rescued by the Chaghai Militia personnel,” Colonel Qazi Naeemullah Khan said. “We sent civil armed forces to help the marooned people,” he said and added that most of them were shifted to a safer place.

Chaghai received rain for the third consecutive day on Tuesday.

Reports reaching from Makran said it had rained in coastal regions and the adjacent central Makran range.