Delayed monsoon strikes NE

Guwahati, June 8 (UNI) After a week-long delay, monsoon has struck the North East as rain had been lashing various places of the region since last night.

''The south-west monsoon has advanced to the entire region, covering Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram, Tripura and eastern parts of Asom and Arunachal Pradesh. Conditions are favourable for its further advance in the remaining parts during the next three to four days,'' Regional Meteorological Centre (RMC) H N Das said here today.

North Lakhimpur in Asom, Cherapunji in Meghalaya and Agartala had received over 100 mm rainfall in the last 24 hours.

The mercury which had been soaring, in Asom sine last few days had also started dipping in the wake of the monsoons.

The monsoon was scheduled to strike the region on June 1.

However, Mr Das said, a tropical cyclonic storm was formed in the Arabian Sea on June 1, and it started to drift northwards.''This drift weakened the monsoon current, causing the delay of nearly a week,'' he added.

A delay of a week or so is normal, he said, adding that last year it was advanced by about eight days due to various synoptic reasons, like low pressure, storms and cyclones.

According to RMC forecasts, rain or thundershowers are likely to occur at most places over the region, while heavy to very heavy rainfall is likely to occur at a few places over Mizoram, Manipur, Nagaland, Tripura and the Barak Valley in Asom in the next 72 hours.

UNI