Jajpur: Hours of incessant rain accompanied by thunderous storm brought along by cyclone ‘Fani’ has killed five people in this district nullifying the government’s loud promises of ‘zero casualty’.
The deceased have been identified as Santar Gagarei of Kharadiha village under Sukinda Naupal gram panchayat, Babaji Khatua of Korei Mukundpur, Kalpataru Paramanik of Sujanpur, KC Ghadei of Singhpur village and Gourang Das of Kartikpur village. The administration however, has claimed that the five died due to their own carelessness.
The deaths apart the cyclone has left a huge trail of devastation in Jajpur with preliminary assessments putting the losses in crore. A huge number of trees have been uprooted while losses of livestock have been reported as well.
The district administration has started the relief and rehabilitation efforts to restore road communication and electricity services. People, who had temporality moved to the cyclone shelter homes have started slowly returning to their residences.
People, however, are facing acute water crisis as electricity services have completely broken down. Even though the district administration is providing water through tankers, it is barely adequate to meet the demand.
The administration is also providing relief to the cyclone-affected persons for three days. Tehsildars have been assigned to visit worst affected villages and provide relief to the people.
The district witnessed record rainfall of 118mm; with Dharmasala witnessing 176mm, Binjharpur 146.7mm and Barchana 189mm during the cyclone.
