A number of districts in sub-Himalayan north Bengal experienced bouts of heavy downpour since Saturday as southwest monsoon reached the region and also the neighbouring state of Sikkim.

On Sunday, it rained in a number of locations of the region, including Siliguri and surrounding areas. Rainfall was accompanied by gusty winds that uprooted trees, brought down billboards and damaged hutments.

“The southwest monsoon is active in some parts of Sikkim and sub-Himalayan Bengal. There is an east-west trough running from northwest of Uttar Pradesh to western areas of Assam, covering Bihar and north Bengal. This is causing the rainfall,” said a weather expert.

Every year, monsoon reaches north Bengal in June.

This time, the Indian Meterological Department (IMD) had predicted the onset of monsoon in north Bengal between June 6 and 12. On Saturday it confirmed monsoon had set in north Bengal.

“Monsoon has set in and there is a forecast of rain and thundershowers in Sikkim and Bengal districts of Darjeeling, Jalpaiguri, Kalimpong, Cooch Behar and Alipurduar for the next few days. In some places there may be heavy rainfall from 70mm to 110mm,” the expert added.

Owing to the rainfall, minor landslides were reported from a number of locations in the hills. In NH10 near Sevoke, passengers and the driver of a car had a close shave as a heavy boulder slipped and fell on the vehicle but soon after they had disembarked from it.

Sources said they had been to Sevoke, located around 20km from here, to offer puja in a local temple. Soon after they parked the car and went to the temple, the boulders came down and fell on the car.

Owing to the incident that occurred around 11am, traffic movement came to a halt on the stretch for some time. A team from the local police outpost reached the spot and after assessing the situation resumed movement of vehicles.

A similar disruption in traffic was reported from Gayabari that is under Mirik subdivision of Darjeeling district as a tree fell on the road. Local residents removed the tree after a couple of hours.

The rainfall that marked the onset of the monsoon also affected campaigns of different political parties ahead of the Siliguri Mahakuma Parishad elections. On June 26, elections of the three-tier panchayat polls would be held in Siliguri sub-division.

“We have asked our leaders and candidates to focus on door-to-door campaigns and hold meetings at local levels, instead of planning public meetings at block level. Amid monsoon, people may not attend an open meeting,” said a Trinamul leader who has been actively arranging campaigns of the party’s candidates.