AT Photo
Agartala, May 29: Heavy downpours triggered by Cyclone Remal left many low-lying areas of the state, especially those located on the river banks of Haora and Gomati, inundated. Vast areas of agricultural land got deluged prompting more than 746 individuals belonging to 246 families to seek refuge in 15 shelter homes set up by the state government.
Chief Minister Dr. Manik Saha personally inspected one of the relief camps established within his constituency and assured all the support from the state administration.
“All the basic needs of the inmates of the relief camps are being fulfilled by the state administration. We are capable enough to deal with the situation. Based on our experiences of the previous years, I can say that things are better than previous years,” said Saha.
“Heavy rains triggered by Cyclone Remal have inundated several parts of Tripura, compelling hundreds of families to seek refuge in relief camps. The state has received record-breaking rainfall, with certain districts experiencing exceptionally high precipitation. The average rainfall recorded stood at 215.5 millimetres till 8:30 am on Tuesday which is an all-time record. The weather has improved later on, and we hope things will soon stumble back to normalcy," he added.
Apart from that, the state government has allocated Rs 50 crore from the disaster relief fund to provide support to the families who were affected by the cyclonic storm. Agriculture has suffered a significant blow, with nearly 1,800 farmers impacted by inundated fields and production losses exceeding Rs 8 crore.
Even though no loss of human life was reported, six houses have been completely destroyed, while hundreds more have been severely or partially damaged by the cyclone. To alleviate the burden on affected families, compensation totaling Rs 80,000 has been disbursed.
The impact of Cyclone Remal extends beyond residential areas, severely disrupting essential services such as power supply. Tripura Power Minister Ratan Lal Nath disclosed that the cyclone inflicted substantial damage to the state's power infrastructure, necessitating an immediate response. “In many areas, power couldn't be restored even after 24 hours had passed. Around 82 transformers went out of operation, and over six hundred poles were dismantled. Power supply wires of more than 230 kilometres in length got snapped as either large trees or trunks fell on them. The estimated cost of the losses incurred by the power department based on the initial assessment is around Rs 2.5 crore.”
Meanwhile, one person identified as Karim Khan was drowned in the Gomati River on Tuesday. The 50-year old man reportedly went to the river to collect firewood. The administration had issued a prior alert and asked citizens to abstain from activities in the water.
