Cyclone Titli: Death toll mounts to 26 in Odisha

Bhubaneswar: The Odisha Government today confirmed total 26 deaths during the recent severe cyclone Titli and subsequent flood in the State.

Briefing to mediapersons, Special Relief Commissioner (SRC) Bishnupada Sethi said, “So far 26 casualties have so far been reported from various district in the State. Of the 26, 18 deaths have been confirmed from Gajapati district (15 in Baraghara village, 2 in Labanyagarh village and and 1 in Allada village).”

The rest eight deaths include three in Ganjam due to drowning and tree felling  and one each in Cuttack (Wall collapse), Angul (Drowning), Kandhamal (wall collapse), Keonjhar (Wall collapse) and Nayagarh (Drowning), he added.

Sethi said police have confirmed the 26 deaths and an ex-gratia of Rs 4 lakh would be provided to each next of the kin of the deceased.

He further said that an investigation will be carried out on the number of deaths due to landslide, tree felling and wall collapse reported from unconfirmed sources.

“A police team, two executive magistrates, two medical teams and ODRAF teams have been deployed at block levels in Gajapati district for the ongoing rescue operation,” he added.

The SRC further informed that total 16 districts have been affected due to heavy rain and flood following cyclone Titli.

“57 lakh people of 144 blocks, 30 ULBs and 7,402 villages have been affected in the aftermath of cyclone Titli. We had evacuated 3.6 lakh people and opened 1614 relief camps during the natural calamity. Total 26 ODRAF and 14 NDRF teams were deployed in Gajapati alone for the rescue and relief operations,” he said.

On damages, Seth said 950 kms of roads in 35 blocks of Ganjam, Gajapati, Rayagada and Kandhamal have severely been damaged. Around Rs 12 crore will be spent for restoration of the roads.