At least 12 people, including three children, were killed in Odisha's Gajapati district after rockslide crumbled the cave they had taken shelter in during cyclone Titli.
Hindustan Times quoted local officials as saying that 22 tribals of Rayagada block's Baraghara village had taken shelter in a cave after a warning was issued in the wake of the cyclone wreaking havoc. But the hillock caved in due to incessant rain and resulted in rockslide that swept away 16 villagers.
While 12 bodies were recovered late on Friday, four people are still missing. Rayagada block chairman Dhaleswar Bhuyan said that the six villagers, who survived, came back to inform the district administration about the tragedy.
"The villagers complained that neither the district collector nor the officials of local police station responded to their SOS calls," he said. Agitated villagers said they would not cremate the bodies till the district administration gave adequate compensation.
Although no deaths were immediately reported in Odisha due to cyclone Titli, the resultant floods following incessant rainfall have so far claimed 21 lives in the state, said the report. It further said that in Gajapati, 15 people have been killed in separate incidents. Two deaths were reported from Nayagarh and one each from Kandhamal, Cuttack, Keonjhar and Angul districts.
The MeT department warned of heavy to very heavy rainfall in Gangetic West Bengal till Saturday, ahead of Durga Puja festivities.
The state deployed NDRF and ODRAF personnel Friday to speed up rescue and relief operation mainly in the southern districts of Ganjam, Gajapati and Rayagada where more than 60 lakh people were affected by flood due to heavy rainfall triggered by the cyclone.
