New Delhi/ Shimla/Uttarkashi: A cloudburst in Uttarakhand's Uttarkashi district early Sunday left two construction workers dead and seven missing as monsoon covered the entire country almost a week early than usual, bringing rain in national capital and other northern states and triggering landslides in several hilly areas.

The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has issued a red alert for heavy rainfall on June 29 and 30 in various districts of Uttarakhand, including Uttarkashi, Rudraprayag, Dehradun, Tehri, Pauri, Haridwar and Nainital. Authorities have put the Char Dham yatra on hold for a day for the safety of pilgrims. A similar red alert of heavy to very heavy rain has been issued for 12 districts in Himachal Pradesh, where rain-related incidents have claimed 17 lives since the onset of monsoon in the state on June 20.

In Uttarakhand, a landslide triggered by a cloudburst destroyed the shelters of workers engaged in the construction of a hotel along the Yamunotri National Highway in Uttarkashi district, officials said.

There were 29 labourers at the campsite when the landslide occurred washing away around 10 metres of the highway. Twenty of them were evacuated to safety while nine went missing, the district emergency operation centre said.

In Himachal Pradesh, services on the Shimla-Kalka rail line -- a UNESCO world heritage -- were suspended on Sunday after boulders and trees fell on the tracks following overnight rains in Solan district. A bridge in Solan's Barotiwala industrial area was also washed away.

Bald River in the Baddi area of the district is swelling and there are reports of water up to four feet entering over 20 houses in Shivalik Nagar in Jhadmajri. Meanwhile, the water level in Mandi's Juni Khad and Beas River has increased and the local administration has appealed to people not to go to the river bank and stay alert.

According to IMD data, this is the earliest the monsoon has covered the entire country since 2020, when it did so by June 26. The monsoon arrived in Delhi two days after the normal date of June 27, the IMD said. "The monsoon has further advanced into remaining parts of Rajasthan, west Uttar Pradesh and Haryana and the entire Delhi today, June 29, 2025," the IMD said in a statement.

According to the Met department here, Chandigarh received 119.5 mm of rain in the last 24 hours ending at 8.30 am on Sunday. Among other places in Punjab, rains lashed Ferozepur, Mohali, Ludhiana, Patiala, Pathankot and Rupnagar.

The IMD said that heavy to very heavy rain is likely to continue in many parts of northwest, central, east and northeast India over the next seven days. The IMD on Sunday issued a 'red' alert, predicting extremely heavy rainfall in parts of Jharkhand till July 1, an official said.

This year, the monsoon reached Kerala on May 24, its earliest onset over the Indian mainland since 2009, when it arrived on May 23.

The monsoon is crucial for India's agriculture sector, which supports the livelihood of around 42 per cent of the population and contributes 18.2 per cent to the GDP. It also plays a key role in replenishing reservoirs essential for drinking water and power generation.