Rain fury in Himachal Pradesh unleashed havoc, claiming over 34 human lives and loss of property over crores of rupees in separate incidents from across various parts of the state on Monday.
Incessant rains since last 48 hours at various places in the state triggered flash floods, cloudburst and landslides.
The capital of the state, Shimla woke up to a tragic incident where loss of life was reported from various suburbs of the city.
Eight bodies have been retrieved from the Shiv Temple in Summerhill, Shimla that collapsed due to landslide owing to heavy rains. While seven injured persons have been rescued, there are fears of more buried under the debris.
The incident occurred at around 7.15 am when devotees visited the temple to worship as it was the last Monday of the holy month of Sawan.
Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu who visited Summerhill Shimla to oversee the rescue operations, told media persons that utmost priority is being given to saving lives and the government is fully committed to ensuring the safety of those trapped.
He also visited Fagli adjoining Shimla city, where five persons were killed and eight injured when a house collapsed under the debris triggered by landslip.
In Solan district 10 persons lost their lives in three separate incidents.
Seven persons of a family including four children died due to building collapse at village Jodan tehsil Mamlig at 2.00 am due to cloudburst, while two persons including a boy died due at village Chamlog in Arki district at 10.45 am.
In a third incident a person died due to building collapse at Banli Knaita in Ramshaher, district Solan.
SDM Arki Yadvinder Singh confirmed of the incidents.
Meanwhile, seven persons are reported to have been killed in Kalash Dhar of Mandi district due to building collapse.
Besides, four deaths have also been reported from Hamirpur district in landslide related incident.
In the hour of grief, Chief Minister Sukhu announced that the Independence Day celebrations this time will not have any cultural programmes across the state.
According to State Emergency Centre, so far the death toll due to the rain fury, since 24 June till date has reached 283, while 304 persons have been injured, while 33 are still missing.
During the period 1442 houses have been fully damaged, 8160 houses have been partially damaged, 272 shops and 2997 cowsheds have also been damaged.
Monetary loss still counting is estimated to be over 7170.85 2 crore rupees.
There have been 112 landslide incidents and 58 flash floods across the state that have blocked roads and disrupted vehicular traffic movement.
So far 621 roads were closed in the state because of rain related incidents, maintained the State Emergency Centre.
State owned government public transport, Himachal Pradesh Road Transport Corporation (HRTC) Managing Director Rohan Chand Thakur said that since last 24 hours the HRTC operations completely paralyzed due to road blockade at maximum places.
Around 400 buses are stuck up due owing to road blocks, he added.
Meanwhile, the IMD has alerted that there will be no respite from rains till August 18.