Despite mammoth restoration and relief works being undertaken in the cyclone and flood affected districts, death toll in the twin calamities touched a whopping 43 by Thursday.
While the cyclone death toll remained at 21, in the concomitant floods, 22 persons perished, when the report was being filed. According to Special Relief Commissioner (SRC) PK Mohapatra, as many 1.24 crore people were affected in 17 districts due to the Phailin and the floods. The two calamities had affected 151 blocks, 2,015 gram panchayats, 18,117 villages and 43 Urban local Bodies (UlBs). Crops in 6, 68,268 hectares had been damaged, he revealed.
Around 4,19,052 units of houses have been fully or partially damaged due to the twin calamities, the SRC said, adding that because of timely evacuation and prompt rescue operation, the human casualty in both the disasters had been minimised to 43.
A total of 11,54,925 people were evacuated to flood and cyclone shelters and other safer places which includes 9,83,642 evacuated before the gale and 1,71,083 before the flood, he informed. The SRC said that the flood waters had started receding and normal communication through roads would be possible by Sunday next in all the five districts of Baleswar, Bhadrak, Jajpur and Mayurbhanj. All the people now camping at the relief camps would return by Friday, he maintained.
Meanwhile, Energy Secretary PK Jena said that power supply situation was fast improving in different parts of the State. By now, the power supply situation in cities of Cuttack and Bhubaneswar were getting normal. Besides, affected districts like Baleswar, Mayurbhanj, Jajpur, Jagatsinghpur and Bhadrak too had been restored of electricity, he asserted.
He further said that distribution channel, grids and sub-stations in Ganjam and Brahmapur had been damaged to the extent of no repair. It needed, there would be fresh construction of the infrastructure which would take some time, he said. Jena hoped that by Friday, around 10 per cent to 15 per cent of consumers in Brahmapur town would be supplied with power, while the electricity would be restored phase wise to different parts of the town.