Rapidly advancing monsoon may cover North India soon

After making a slow progress, the southwest monsoon has advanced rapidly and is likely to hit almost the entire north India, including Delhi and the National Capital Region, in the next 2-3 days, said the Met department on Sunday.

The weatherman said monsoon would also advance to Bihar, Jharkhand, Gujarat, Chhattisgarh and parts of Madhya Pradesh during that time.

Belying predictions, the country has received 21 per cent more rainfall than normal for this time of the year, said the India Meteorological Department (IMD).

In Maharashtra, a major landslide on the Mumbai-Pune Expressway slowed down the traffic even as 10 people have lost their lives in the last couple of days in the state, which has been experiencing heavy rain. 

The landslide occurred during the peak morning hours on one side of the Khandala tunnel, but affected the traffic both ways. 

People commuting between Mumbai and Pune spent almost double the usual time for the commute. “We are trying our level best to restore normal traffic,” said Public Works Minister Eknath Shinde, as the government came under criticism because of traffic jams at both ends of the best high-speed road in the state.

Reports from Neral, close to hill station Matheran, in the Raigad district said five members of a family were killed when the wall of a house in the Mohachiwadi village collapsed.

Two of a family have died and three-four others are still trapped under a landslide at Dabhol in the Ratnagiri district. Extensive crop damage was reported from the Marayoor and Kanthalloor regions.