As many as 13 bodies have been recovered from the site of the collapsed Shiv Bawadi temple in the Summer Hills area of Shimla in Himachal Pradesh, officials said.

Rescue operations continued on Wednesday to find survivors, but more bodies are expected to be recovered, as heavy rains continued to batter the mountainous state in the north of India.

India Meteorological Department (IMD) forecasted heavy to very heavy rainfall and issued a red alert for Wednesday in the state.

With no signs of receding rainfall, all schools and colleges in the state remain closed for the day.

On Tuesday, Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu held a meeting to review the prevailing condition in the state and pressed that the state government is fully committed to expediting restoration efforts on a priority basis.

Meanwhile, in rain-ravaged Uttarakhand, two more bodies were recovered on Tuesday while seven people are still missing.

CM Sukhu attributes the washing away of structures on lack of ‘structural designing’

The excessive rain and resulting landslides in have led to a massive loss of the state’s infrastructure, some say to the tune of INR 10,000 crore.

Buildings obstruct the natural course of water flow at places, and there is little attention paid to designing structures.

‘The river didn’t enter homes, the homes entered the river,’ he said.

The CM said climate change could have played a part. It never rained like this before in Lahaul-Spiti, he said, giving an example. 

Himachal Pradesh will take a year to rebuild the infrastructure wrecked by the heavy rains this monsoon but the state is up to the ‘mountain-like challenge.’

But the government is speeding up the process.

‘We have to get the infrastructure fully restored within a year. I am working with this in mind,’ the CM said.

Himachal Pradesh Governor Shiv Pratap Shukla today said, ‘The state government is providing all possible help. We are all engaged in providing all possible help at the earliest. SDM has been ordered to cut down the remaining trees to provide protection to the houses. Around 250-300 families are staying in this shelter home and community.’