Bhubaneswar, May 5
The Odisha Government on Sunday confirmed that 29 deaths have been reported so far after Cyclone Fani hit the coastal state on Friday.
Chief Secretary AP Padhi said that 21 persons have died in Puri while eight deaths were reported from other affected districts. “We are still collecting information and the actual figure can be confirmed only after all the assessment has been done,” he said. Cyclone Fani has severely devastated Puri and parts of Khurdha district. While thousands of trees were uprooted and several houses destroyed, the cyclone also damaged the electricity and communication facilities in the affected areas.
Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, who took a review meeting here, said that 70 per cent of water connection in Puri and 40 per cent in Bhubaneswar has already been restored. The CM also announced a special package for cyclone-affected people. All families covered under the National Food Security Act will get 50 kg of rice, Rs 2,000 and polythene sheets.
The state government has accelerated massive restoration work across 10,000 villages and 52 urban areas affected by the cyclonic storm. The office of Special Relief Commissioner (SRC) said massive relief and restoration work was underway to provide basic facilities — electricity, water supply and mobile connectivity — to the people. More than 30 lakh electricity consumers in the state were affected, said SRC Bishnupada Sethi. “According to preliminary reports, cyclone ‘Fani’ damaged power infrastructure worth more than Rs 1,200 crore. Electricity to emergency services will be restored by Sunday evening,” said Energy Secretary Hemanta Sharma. “It will take at least five to seven days to restore normalcy in power supply in Bhubaneswar. However, it may take a bit longer for Puri where the devastation to power structures is maximum,” he added.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will visit Odisha on Monday to take stock of the situation. — IANS
RELIEF POURS IN
Chhattisgarh Rs 11 crore
Maharashtra Rs 10 crore
Uttar Pradesh Rs 10 crore
Gujarat Rs 5 crore
Impact in North-East
- One person was feared drowned while four others swam to safety when a country boat capsized, due to the impact of ‘Fani’ at Kamrup district in Assam
- One person was injured and many houses were damaged in Meghalaya’s East Khasi Hills and South West Khasi Hills districts when Fani was passing through the area
How IMD tracked cyclone
- The IMD got help from the Ministry of Earth Sciences in predicting development of Cyclone Fani. The data collected was run through 10 specialised weather models
- Satellites provided data and images on clouds in oceanic area for monitoring low pressure systems, while 20 buoys in Bay of Bengal and Arabian Sea gave data on rainfall, temperatures, wind speed
- Data was processed by Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology & National Centre for Medium Range Weather Forecasting
Minor damage to Jagannath Temple
Puri: The 12th century Shree Jagannath temple here has suffered minor damages due to Cyclone Fani that ripped apart the holy town on Friday, officials said Sunday. “Yes, there have been minor damages to the temple, but the main structure remains unaffected. We will request the Archaeological Survey of India (undertaking repairs at the temple) to inspect the shrine,” said PK Mohapatra, the chief administrator of Shree Jagannath Temple Administration (SJTA). PTI
from The Tribune http://bit.ly/2LrFHg3
via Today’s News Headlines
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