The first floodwaters of the Mahanadi released from the Hirakud Dam on Friday reached the Naraj barrage on Sunday morning.
It took nearly 36 hours for the waters to reach Naraj from Burla covering a distance of about 300 km, sources in the Water Resources Department said.
Meanwhile, the Cuttack district administration has taken elaborate precautionary measures. The control rooms at Mundali, Naraj and Jobra barrages have been asked to keep a close watch on the floodwaters and provide information round the clock.
The Hirakud Dam authorities had released the first floodwater of Mahanadi through 10 sluice gates on August 5. But considering the inflow of excess floodwaters from the upper catchments, they opened two more gates on Saturday and again opened four more gates on Sunday morning.
The Cuttack district administration had earlier assured the people in the district not to panic as there would be no flood threat in the lower catchments of the Mahanadi despite release of waters from Hirakud.