Life remained paralysed on Saturday, a day after ‘extremely severe’ cyclonic storm Fani, ripped through eight districts of Odisha.
Initial reports suggested 20 people had died due to collapse of walls, trees and electric poles. The Office of Special Relief Commissioner, however, had no official information to validate the death toll.
Lakhs of people have been affected, and the State government has launched massive rescue and restoration operations. After clearing road blockades along National and State highways, personnel from the Odisha Disaster Rapid Action Force and National Disaster Response Force have started moving to villages.
As communication networks are not in place, the extent of damage could not be ascertained. Energy infrastructure has suffered a massive damage in the region. Failure of mobile connectivity has added to the chaos.
The Office of Special Relief Commissioner, however, said the first priority was to admit injured people to hospitals and restore power.
