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Cyclone Fani damages crops on 36,414 hectares in 21 dists

Death toll rises to 42 in India, Bangladesh

A farmer harvesting his paddy yet to ripen fully in East Bogura on Sunday in the wake of the cyclone Fani that flattened the field with the crops going under water — Focus Bangla
A farmer harvesting his paddy yet to ripen fully in East Bogura on Sunday in the wake of the cyclone Fani that flattened the field with the crops going under water — Focus Bangla

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Crops on 36,414 hectares of land have been damaged in 21 districts across the country due to heavy rain, wind and tidal wave caused by the cyclonic storm Fani, official data showed.

The storm Fani hit India and Bangladesh between Friday and Saturday last.

According to the data, crops on 5,500-7,200 hectares of land might be damaged totally.

The Department of Agriculture Extension (DAE) disclosed the data at its office on Sunday.

Dr Alhaz Uddin Ahmed, deputy director at the DAE, said Boro crop on 16,188 hectares of land has been damaged by strong wind and tidal surge. Boro paddy on 2,500 hectares of land might be damaged totally, he added.

The cyclone damaged mug pulses on 7,037 hectares while chilli on 4,682, vegetables on 3,174, groundnut on 2,210, soybean on 1,046, betel-leaf on 735, maize on 651 and other crops including jute, mango, felon pulses, Aus paddy and sunflower etc on 372 hectares.

Dr Ahmed said they have yet to assess the extent of losses caused by the cyclonic storm.

A total of 4.824 million hectares of land has been brought under Boro farming this year. "We are expecting to get 19.5 million tonnes of rice," he said.

He also informed that more than 95 per cent of Boro harvest has been completed in haor areas while it is 34 per cent at national level.

However, weather is likely to remain mainly dry with partly cloudy sky in most of the places over the country in next 24 hours starting at 6.00 pm on Sunday, according to the Bangladesh Meteorological Department.

Meanwhile, river vessel service resumed in the country from 7:00 am on Sunday after nearly three days.

The Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority (BIWTA) lifted the restrictions after the Met Office lowered the danger signal to 1, sources said.

AFP report from New Delhi adds: The death toll from a cyclone that battered India and Bangladesh rose to 42 on Sunday as emergency teams raced to fix water supplies and roads devastated by the storm.

Twenty-nine of the dead were in eastern India's Odisha state and 13 in Bangladesh, officials in the two countries said -- a fraction of the casualty numbers seen in past cyclones.

Cyclone Fani barrelled into Odisha on Friday, packing winds up to 200 kilometres (125 miles) an hour before losing intensity as it headed towards Bangladesh.

Twenty-one deaths were reported in the Hindu pilgrimage city of Puri, said Odisha special relief commissioner Bishnupada Sethi.

"We are trying to confirm the identity of the victims but since communication lines have been hit, it is taking time," Sethi told AFP.

The toll in Bangladesh included six people struck by lightning, disaster management official Golam Mostofa told AFP.

Thousands of trees and mobile phone towers were uprooted and roofs were torn off by the storm. Many homes have now gone three days without power.

Odisha state Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik has announced cash and rice handouts for victims in need. He said cooked food would be supplied to some communities for 15 days.

Fani was the first summer cyclone to hit India's Bay of Bengal coast in 43 years and only the third in the past 150 years, the chief minister said. Normally the storms hit around October and November.

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