The death toll in rain-battered Himachal Pradesh rose to 74 as another body was pulled out of the rubble of a Shiva temple here and two more people killed in Chamba district, officials said on Thursday.

Twenty-one of these deaths were in the three major landslides in Shimla alone --at the Shiva temple in Summer Hill and in Fagli and Krishnanagar.

Eight persons are still feared buried in the temple debris.

On Wednesday, workers at the Summer Hill landslide site retrieved the body of P L Sharma, head of the Mathematics department at Himachal Pradesh University, Shimla Superintendent of Police Sanjeev Kumar Gandhi told PTI.

Two rain-related deaths were reported in Chamba district where a person fell from a height and another drowned, taking the death count over the past four days to 74, according to the state emergency operation centre.

The state recorded heavy rains for three days, beginning Sunday. After Tuesday, there has been less rain. There were light showers at some places on Thursday.

Since the onset of the monsoon on June 24, 217 persons have died in rain-related incidents in Himachal Pradesh.

Operations are on at the landslide sites in Shimla. So far, 14 bodies have been recovered from Summer Hill, five from Fagli and two from Krishnanagar, SP Gandhi said.

The Indian Army, Air Force and other rescue personnel evacuated 309 people from the flood-affected area in Kangra district's Fatehpur and Pong Dam in Indora.

Over the last three days, 2074 people have been evacuated from these areas.