Odisha chief minister Mohan Charan Majhi declared on Friday that the state had achieved the zero casualty target after Cyclone Dana had made landfall on Thursday night.

Contrary to the claim, an 82-year-old woman, Hemalata Behera of Bankula village, reportedly died at a shelter in Rajnagar, Kendrapara district, on Thursday night. Sources said she collapsed because of the cold.

Block development officer Rajnagar Nishan Mishra told The Telegraph: “Hemalata died of a heart attack. I also submitted a report to the government. Her body was sent to Puri for cremation.”

On the other hand, Majhi said: “By the grace of Lord Jagannath, no life was lost in Cyclone Dana. We have achieved the zero casualty target. As many as 4,797 pregnant women were admitted to hospitals across the state. Thanks to God, we had a safe delivery of 1,600 babies. The number will go up.”

As many as 2,200 babies were born in the state on the intervening night of Thursday and Friday. Stepping into the world just before the gale touched the coast, they have all been named after Dana. They were born in hospitals and health centres (Maa Ghara) along the coast.

As the intensity of the wind was less compared to the super cyclone in 1999 during the landfall, the damage caused by Dana was not substantial.

Ahead of the cyclone, the state government had evacuated more than six lakh people. “We had planned to evacuate 10 lakh people but as the cyclone changed its direction, we evacuated six lakh people, including pregnant women,” the chief minister said.

A 32-year-old mother from Talchua medical centre in Kendrapara said: “As my baby came into the world with the cyclone, we decided to name him Dana. God has given us Dana which literally means food in Odia. Hope, he provides for us when he grows up.”

Doctor Upasana of the medical centre said: “The baby is well. There is no health-related issue. Once the weather improves, the mother will take the baby home.”

The cyclone passed the Odisha coast close to Bhitarakanika national sanctuary and Dhamara in Bhadrak. Though no major casualties have been reported so far, a large number of trees were uprooted, and a number of kutcha houses were damaged. However, there was no significant damage to the phone network.

Talchua Sarapancha Debu Mandal told this newspaper. “Compared to the 1999 cyclone and other cyclones, this one had no impact at all.But water-logging was reported at many places and there was extensive damage to paddy fields.”

Former Rajnagar MLA Anshuman Mohanty said: “We had seen the super cyclone. God saved us. No major breach of saline embankment was reported this time. But we had reservations about the cause of the death of the lady in Rajnagar.”