Aftermath of Cyclone Fani: Odisha struggles to restore basic amenities

The death toll in Cyclone Fani reached 34 on Sunday, two days after the “extremely severe” storm barrelled through coastal Odisha, causing widespread destruction and leaving hundreds grappling with water shortage and power cuts. (Express photo: Partha Paul)

CM Naveen Patnaik tweeted on Sunday that all families in Puri and in those parts of Khurda, which had been “extremely severely affected”, will get 50 kg of rice, Rs 2,000 in cash and polythene sheets, if covered under the Food Security Act (FSA). (Express photo: Partha Paul)

The city is not only reeling from lack of telecommunication facilities but also power and water shortage. (Express photo: Partha Paul)

Videos on social media showed cars and buses flipping over, trees being ripped out, a police booth being dragged some on a highway by furious winds and even a massive construction collapsing on a row of empty buildings in the storm. (Express photo: Partha Paul)

People were scouring the city to find water to fill up their bottles as temperature crossed 35 degree Celsius. (Express photo: Partha Paul)

The city also witnessed huge lines at petrol pumps. Diesel was in higher demand than petrol, as it is used by homes and businesses to power generators and even for their vehicles. (Express photo: Partha Paul)

Public transport was also largely missing and the few auto rickshaws which were plying were said to be demanding unreasonable fares. (Express photo: Partha Paul)

Several people also complained that they were running low on cash and the ATMs were not working. (Express photo: Partha Paul)

A protest in Puri against late arrival of relief material. CM Patnaik had said that the government has made arrangements to provide cooked food for free for the next 15 days. (Express photo: Partha Paul)