Odisha cyclone and flood loss rises to Rs 2,765 cr

Bhubaneswar: The Odisha government Thursday said cyclone Titli and subsequent floods caused a loss of about Rs 2,765 crore and affected 60.11 lakh people. Apart from severe damage to infrastructure, the cyclone and floods have taken 57 lives, officials said.

Ahead of submitting a memorandum to the Central government to seek interim assistance for cyclone and floods, Special Relief Commissioner (SRC) B P Sethi said the twin calamity caused an estimated loss of over Rs 2,765 crore.

On the impact of the calamity on agriculture, Sethi said the cyclone and subsequent flood have damaged crop in 2.6 lakh hectare of land and destroyed 56,930 houses, and killed 34,951 domestic animals.

He said 60.11 lakh people in 8,125 villages under 128 blocks spread over 17 districts — Balasore, Bhadrak, Cuttack, Dhenkanal, Gajapati, Ganjam, Jagatsinghpur, Jajpur, Kandhamal, Kendrapara, Keonjhar, Khurda, Mayurbhanj, Nayagarh, Puri, Angul and Rayagada — were affected in the twin calamities.

The SRC said of the 57 deaths, 39 were reported from “worst-affected Gajapati district”, 12 casualties were reported from Ganjam and two from Kandhamal district.

Four persons — one each from Cuttack, Angul, Keonjhar and Nayagarh districts — were killed during the disaster, he said. Meanwhile, Union minister Dharmendra Pradhan Thursday visited Gajapati district to gauge the impact of cyclone Titli and subsequent floods.

Petroleum and Natural Gas minister also visited Manikapatna and Khambagaon villages and met the affected people before proceeding to Laxmipur and Kainpur panchayats in the district, said state BJP general secretary Bhrugu Baxipatra.