Gidipabali Landslide: Odisha Toll Hits 6, 10 Still Missing

Rescuers recovered two bodies from the landslide-hit hilltop village of Gidipabali on the Ganjam-Kandhamal border on Sunday, 1 November, taking the Cyclone Arnab death toll in Odisha to six, with 10 people still missing. State Fire Service Director General Sudhanshu Sarangi confirmed the recoveries, according to National Herald. The slide, set off by Arnab’s rain, flattened the village of about 26 residents in Bhanjanagar block; the search is expected to continue until Tuesday.

177 Rescuers Digging Through Mud and Stones

About 177 personnel from the NDRF, ODRAF, the Fire Service, the Special Operation Group, Railways and the Navy are on the site. They are using the Fire Service’s seismic life detection unit and the Railways’ chain pulley system to move people over the slope. Kandhamal Collector Vedbhusan said at least 13 survivors are sheltered at a relief centre near G Udayagiri. Special Relief Commissioner Rajesh P Patil said the identities of the dead were not yet known. Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi said the state was taking all possible measures to find the missing. Opposition leader Naveen Patnaik said he was concerned and saddened and asked the government to keep the rescue swift and safe.

Four Deaths Were Already on the Count

Before Sunday the state had counted four deaths: three members of one family in a landslide at Dangesi village in Raikia block, Kandhamal, and a man swept away in Gajapati district, as IPB News reported in its earlier story on the Odisha floods. The missing count has shifted between 10 and 12 in different reports since Saturday, as survivors were accounted for. Odisha has recorded about 10 landslides from the cyclone’s rain, which made landfall in Andhra Pradesh on 28 October.

Also read Chhattisgarh Rain: Kusmi Records 28 cm; More Showers on 2-3 November

1 Lakh People Affected in Ganjam Alone

Patil told a press conference on Sunday that more than 1 lakh people in 22 blocks and 398 villages of Ganjam are affected, about 74,000 hectares of farmland is damaged and roughly 1,000 houses are damaged, Sambad English reported. He said almost all mobile towers had been restored. The state has not published a final crop-loss or damage estimate. A central team was due in Odisha on 2 November to assess the flood damage; more background is on the Daily Updates page.

Source: Based on reporting by National Herald, The Tribune (PTI), Sambad English and The Hans India.

Image: PTI.