The death toll from the cyclonic storm that ripped through Bihar on Tuesday has risen to 54.
Another 100 have been injured, it is being reported.
The worst hit area is Purnia district, 320 km east of Patna, where the storm has claimed 37 lives and injured over 80 people.
The storm has devastated thousands of houses and destroyed crops spread over 45,000 hectare in both rural and urban areas, District Magistrate Rajesh Kumar said.
The storm comes just around the time the Rabi crop was being harvested.
For Premkala, a woman of Babhani village in Purnia district, the storm has destroyed her entire wheat harvest and other standing crops, besides her home.
“I have lost everything. My house has gone, so is the case with crops standing in five hectare land,” she rues. With the wheat she harvested only a day before, she had hoped to repay a loan of Rs 40,000.
Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has conducted an aerial survey of affected areas.
Crops at most places are flattened. We have spoken to Union Minister Rajnath Singh who assured all possible help. We will get back to him after final assessment of the damage. We have announced Rs 4 lakh each to next of kin of the dead.
– Nitish Kumar
The Principal Secretary to the Disaster Management department, Vyas Jee said district magistrates of affected districts have been directed to provide one quintal of food-grain, Rs 1,800 for buying clothes, Rs 2,000 for purchase of utensils besides another Rs 2,000 cash to citizens whose dwellings perished in the storm.
The Chief Minister has stated that the government has been taking a holistic assessment of crop damage in the entire state this season and had already worked out a Rs 1,760 crore package. This, however, did not include damages from the storm.
(With Inputs from PTI)
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