The State Government on Tuesday confirmed a total of 26 deaths during the recent Very Severe Cyclonic Storm ‘Titli’ and subsequent floods in the State.
Briefing mediapersons, Special Relief Commissioner (SRC) Bishnupada Sethi said, “So far, 26 casualties have been reported. Of these, 18 deaths were confirmed in Gajapati district (15 in Baraghara village, two in Labanyagarh village and one in Allada village).”
The rest eight deaths included 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 the next of the kin of each deceased.
He also said an investigation would 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 in different blocks in Gajapati district for the ongoing rescue operation,” he added.
The SRC further informed that totally 16 districts have been affected due to heavy rains and floods following Titli.
“57 lakh people of 144 blocks, 30 ULBs and 7,402 villages have been affected in the aftermath of Titli.
We had evacuated 3.6 lakh people and opened 1,614 relief camps during the calamity. Total 26 ODRAF and 14 NDRF teams were deployed in Gajapati district alone for the rescue and relief operations,” he said.
Sethi also informed that 950 km of roads in 35 blocks of Ganjam, Gajapati, Rayagada and Kandhamal have severely been damaged. Around Rs 12 crore would be spent for restoration of the roads.