At least 51 people were killed in Himachal Pradesh, 14 of them in two Shimla landslides including one at a temple as rain wreaked havoc in the state triggering landslides that blocked key roads and brought down houses, officials said on Monday.

As many as 19 persons died in various rain-related incidents in Mandi district, deputy commissioner Arindam Chaudhary said.

Many people are still feared trapped under the debris of the Shiv temple in Shimla’s Summer Hill area. The shrine was crowded with devotees, offering prayers on an important day of the holy month of Sawan. This was one of the two landslides reported from the state capital which is still witnessing intense rain. The toll in the incident may rise, the officials said.

In the second landslide in the Fagli area where several houses were buried under mud and slush, five bodies have been pulled out of the rubble while 17 persons were rescued, Shimla SP Sanjeev Kumar Gandhi told PTI.

Chief minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu earlier said nine bodies have been pulled out of the debris of the Shiv temple.

He visited the site of the temple collapse and said: “There was a gathering in the Lord Shiva temple at the time of the incident as it was Monday of the holy month of Sawan. Rescue work is underway on a war footing. All possible efforts are being made to rescue the people buried under the debris.”

All schools and colleges in the state were closed on Monday. According to the state emergency operation centre, 621 roads were closed in the state because of the calamity.

The Unesco world heritage Shimla-Kalka railway bridge was badly damaged near Summer Hill in Shimla. The 50-metre bridge was swayed away and the tracks are hanging in the air, the officials said.

The weather office predicted extremely heavy rain in nine out of 12 districts of the state — barring Kullu, Kinnaur and Lahaul and Spiti — on Monday and issued a yellow warning for Tuesday.

Union home minister Amit Shah said teams of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) are engaged in relief and rescue operations in the hill state and termed the loss of lives due to the deluge as “extremely distressing”.

In Solan district’s Jadon village, seven members of a family were killed in a cloudburst on Sunday night.

Two houses in the district were washed away following the cloudburst. While six people were rescued, seven others were killed, a police official said.