By Our Correspondent, Darchula, Jan. 3: Snowing has occurred in the high hills and mountainous region in Darchula. Normal life has been affected due to the incessant rain and snowfall since Sunday morning.

Due to the chilling cold, people and animals in the high altitude area have been adversely affected. Snow fell in the highlands of Darchula, Byas, Api Himal, Naugad, Duhu, and Marma villages.

Most of the areas in Byas and Api Himal has been covered with snow.

Yogesh Bohara, a local of Byas Rural Municipality, said that because of the increasing cold, locals are not being able to step out of the house and conduct daily activities.

Even school education has been severely hindered by the increasing cold in the region.

Similarly, Yogendra Dhami, another local, said that there had been a direct impact of increasing cold in the locals of Api Himal.

This is the second time that the region has witnessed snowfall.

Farmers of the area also seem to be distressed about the impact of snowfall on their agricultural products. The area suffers from the lack of rainfall and farmers use rain harvested water for irrigation, however, now farmers have to worry about excessive water caused by the snowfall as well.

Shambhu Raj Joshi, from Lekam Rural Municipality-5, said that the land has been barren since the sowing of seeds due to lack of rainfall in the area.

 He said that the winter crops planted in the field could not germinate due to lack of rain.

People in the area with partial irrigation facilities, however, are happy that the rains have brought relief.

Even the communication, internet, and network services have been disrupted by the snowfall in Darchula as the network and tower operated by solar energy have not been charged since Saturday because of lack of sunlight.

Due to the lack of electrification up to the towers, communication services in Darchula have been disrupted time and again.

Dambar Bhandari, a local of Lekam, said that they had to lose contact after the phone and internet services were disrupted.

Lately, the electricity supply has also been disrupted which has compounded the problem of the locals.