Heavy snowfall cased a series of avalanches that blocked in several place the highway connecting Dushanbe and Khujand, the capital of the northern province of Sughd. 

Heavy snowfall on February 28 caused a series of avalanches that blocked in several places the Dushanbe-Khujand highway, says the press center of the Branch of the Innovative Roads Solutions (IRS) Company in Tajikistan, which operates the toll on the Dushanbe-Khujand-Chanak highway.  

Snowfall is going on and the risk of further avalanches reportedly remains high.

The work on clearing the highway of snow is under way and the highway will reopen to traffic in the near future, the IRS Branch press center added.  

Meanwhile, weather forecasters says the risk of further avalanches in mountain areas of districts subordinate to the center, on the southern slopes of Hisor (Gissar) Range and in the western part of the Gorno Badakhshan Autonomous Region (GBAO) remains high until the end of this week.   

Recall, at least eight people were killed in snow avalanches in Tajikistan January.  More than 110 snow-slides were registered in the country in January.  

Mountains cover 93 percent of Tajikistan, and avalanches and mudslides kill dozens of people every year.