Cyclone Dana: Crops on 1.75L acre damaged in Odisha, says govt

Severe cyclonic storm Dana and the rain accompanying it are likely to have damaged standing crops in 1.75 lakh acre of land, and submerged another 2.80 lakh acre in Odisha, a senior official said on Saturday, citing preliminary estimations.

The state government has directed a joint assessment of crop loss due to the cyclone by officials of the agriculture and revenue departments, he said.

"As per preliminary reports, the crop area likely to be affected by #CycloneDana is about 1,75,000 acres (69,995 ha). Eye-estimated submerged crop area is about 2,80,000 acres (1,12,310 ha)," principal secretary of agriculture and farmer empowerment Arabinda Padhi said in a post on X.

"We've directed field officials of @krushibibhag to assess and enumerate the crop loss (more than 33 percent and above), jointly with Revenue Dept colleagues in a squad approach under supervision of district collectors," he said.

Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi during a review meeting on Friday night said the final estimate of the loss in the agriculture sector would be known from the detailed report, on the basis of which the government would decide on compensation for farmers.

He said that around 8 lakh people were moved to cyclone shelters, and many of them were allowed to return home as the weather improved.

Meanwhile, about 22.42 lakh houses faced power disruptions due to the cyclone. Of them, power supply to 14.8 lakh houses were restored by Friday evening, and the remaining will be done by Saturday, an official said.

Energy Department's Principal Secretary Hemant Shara was touring Kendrapara and Bhadrak, the two most-affected districts, supervising the restoration works.

Severe cyclonic storm Dana struck the eastern coast in the early hours of Friday, triggering torrential rain and high-speed winds that uprooted trees and electric poles, and caused significant damage to infrastructure and crops in Odisha and West Bengal.

The landfall started around 12.05 am on Friday between Bhitarkanika in Kendrapara and Dhamra in Bhadrak district of Odisha with wind speeds of around 110 kmph, and ended around 8.30 am.