“I saw our house fall. You have no idea how I felt.”

Suman’s voice trembled as she recalled the harrowing sight of her family home collapsing on 15 August, the day India celebrated its independence.

“I screamed loudly, but I couldn’t do anything,” she said, wiping away tears.

A town in northern India’s Himalayan state of Himachal Pradesh, Shimla is known for its tranquility and British colonial charm.

This monsoon season, torrential rains and landslides washed away Suman’s family home, built after years of effort.

“Our parents had put their life savings into building this house,” Suman told the BBC from a relief camp set up by the state government.

This is unbearable. We don’t even want to build a house now. We have given up.”

Life and property have been devastated by weeks of heavy rainfall in Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand.

Since June, at least 348 people have died from rain-related incidents, such as landslides and flash floods.

Shimla, the capital of Himachal Pradesh, was particularly hard hit, with nearly 80 deaths.

Deputy Chief Minister Sukhwinder Sukhu declared that the state had lost more than 100 billion rupees ($1.2bn, £961m).

More than 2,220 homes have been destroyed while another 10,000 have been partially damaged. 300 shops are unusable due to the wreckage.

Livestock losses are equally devastating, with nearly 10,000 poultry birds and more than 6,000 cattle lost. People living in these hills are still reeling from the devastation that surrounds them.

On 14 August, 20 people died after a Shiva temple in Shimla was buried under a landslide.

One family lost seven members as the temple’s surroundings were inundated with slush, rocks and water.

The National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) and other rescue agencies launched an arduous search for survivors and bodies in the aftermath of the temple tragedy.