60 Lakh People Affected By Cyclone ‘Titli’, Property Loss Pegged At Rs 2765 crore

Bhubaneswar: Special Relief Commissioner (SRC) Bishnupada Sethi on Thursday said that over 60 lakh people of 17 districts have been affected due to very severe cyclonic storm ‘Titli’ and the subsequent flood in the state.

He put the loss suffered in the twin calamities at around Rs 2,765 crore. “The loss amount could increase as the final reports are yet to come,” he added.

The report said:

60.1 lakh people of 8,125 gram panchayats in Balasore, Bhadrak, Cuttack, Dhenkanal, Gajapati, Ganjam, Jagatsinghpur, Jajpur, Kandhamal, Kendrapara, Keonjhar, Khordha, Mayurbhanj, Nayagarh, Puri, Angul and Rayagada have been affected by the natural calamities.

Crops over 2.63 lakh hectares have been destroyed.

In Ganjam, Gajapati and Rayagada districts, 56,930 houses have been damaged. Of them, 20,422 houses were completely damaged whereas 36,508 houses have been partially damaged.

This apart, 34,951 domestic animals have died under the impact of Titli

“In the primary stage, we are giving importance to relief distribution and restoration work. The stress is also on providing healthcare services and improving sanitation in the cyclone and flood-hit areas,” said Sethi.

The SRC said 54 doctors have been deployed in the flood-hit areas of Ganjam, Gajapati and Rayagada. “As many as 86 relief centres have been opened and 82 mobile health teams instructed to visit the victims and treat them,” he said.

Chief Secretary Aditya Prasad Padhi on Wednesday had said that preliminary estimates pegged the overall damage, including to infrastructure and agricultural crops, at Rs 2,200 crore and the final report would be prepared within two days.

While an official put the death toll at 57, the SCR office in a statement said that 39 deaths were reported from Gajapati district, 12 from Ganjam district, two from Kandhamal district and one each from Angul, Cuttack, Nayagarh and Keonjhar.

Reports of 10 more deaths were being verified, it added.

Notably, the casualties mainly resulted from landslides, wall collapses, drowning and uprooting of trees.

Meanwhile, the Odisha government has enhanced the compensation amount from Rs 4 lakh to Rs 10 lakh for each bereaved family.