A 30- minute-long storm on Saturday night created massive damages across the district and the nearby areas. The strong wind uprooted trees and electricity polls in many parts while many roads were blocked as trees fell over them. Many houses were also damaged. life got paralysed in Sambalpur town when the city remained under total darkness due to uprooted electricity poles and damaged transformers. Road communication was also a difficult affair in the town. A roof top of a house in Gopalmal area flew to a distance of 100 metres and fell on the road in between two houses. Fortunately there was no casualty.
In Sadar tehsil of the district one minor boy Akhay Khadia (17) died in his native village Senapali when a tree fell on him. “The concerned tehsildar visited the place and after the final report, compensation as per the relief code will be provided to the deceased family,” said District Emergency Officer (DEO) Sanjib Pujari. He further said that no report of crop loss is there in the district as the farmers have already completed the harvesting of the Rabi crop and paddy particularly in the Hirakud command area.
“But at the preliminary stage, house damage loss in the district has been estimated at Rs 34 lakh and other line departments are yet to submit their loss report. However, the damage in Sambalpur town is on the higher side than the rural areas,” the DEO informed.
For the first time in Sambalpur, Wesco did its best to revive power supply in the town amidst the massive devastation. While some parts of Ainthapali area got the power supply in the night itself, other parts got in the morning. And, for critically damaged areas of the town work was going on war footing. The entire town got the supply by Sunday noon.
While there was little relief from heat in the night due to the rain, but the day temperature was as usual and people again suffered due to the scorching heat on Sunday. The fire brigade and ODRAF teams also did their best to bring back normalcy facing all odds. The senior officials of the district administration and police were busy in restoration work.