Situation in Dharak and Padiala villages, near Kharar, is alarming and the Sohana-Padiala section of the GT Road is cracking up at various places. Likewise, the fields at Lohgarh Fidde, near Guru Gobind Singh super thermal plant and Ropar Anaj Mandi have been flooded. Deputy Commissioner Kulbir Singh Sidhu and some senior police officers of the district rushed to the villages to monitor flood control measurers.

Though no loss of life or property has been reported from anywhere in the district, Sidhu said,``the exact loss of crops can be ascertained only after the situation is back to normal''. He added that people from far-flung areas had come with complaints of crop-loss.

He, however said, the situation under control after the rain stopped in the afternoon.

Chandigarh: Heavy rain pounded several parts of north-west region today with the monsoon becoming active, paralysing normal life in many parts in the region during first half of the day.

The rain, which began in the early hours, continued till around noon at various places in the region, flooding low-lying areas.

The city and its surrounding areas of Punjab and Haryana experienced the heaviest rainfall of the current rainy season today. The local weather office recorded 135.1 mm rainfall till 2.30 p.m. in the city.

Ambala registered the highest rainfall of 161.8 mm in the region till 8.30 a.m. today, bringing normal life to a virtual standstill. Several places in Himachal Pradesh also reported heavy rain till this morning. Reports of rain came in from Dharamsala, Kangra, Palampur, Mandi, Sundernagar, Sujanpur Tira, Hamirpur, Nadaun, Una and Nahan. Ghamroor reported the highest rainfall of 108 mm in the state till 8.30 a.m. today.

Reports of heavy rain also poured in from Jammu region. The meteorological office recorded 31.4 mm rain at Jammu till this morning.Moderate to heavy rain was also reported in different parts of Punjab. Nangal Dam registered the highest rainfall of 130 mm in the state.

Delhi and its surrounding areas were also lashed by moderate to heavy showers. Palam observatory recorded 31.9 mm and Safdarjung observatory 10.6 mm rainfall till this morning.

The weather office here has predicted heavy rains at most of the places in Himachal Pradesh and Haryana and many places in Punjab during the next 24 hours.