Bhubaneswar, Sep 1 (IANS) Floods triggered by heavy rains continued to ravage Orissa Friday though the waters in the state's rivers had started receding.

The floods in the Mahanadi, the state's biggest river, and its tributaries had hit more than 700,000 people and marooned at least 170 villages in 10 of the state's 30 districts, Orissa's Special Relief Commissioner Jagadananda Panda told IANS.

The fresh floods come even as Orissa is yet to recover from the four rounds of floods that ravaged most parts of the state over past two months killing over 85 people.

The situation was likely to improve in next 24 hours as the floodwaters had started receding, the official said.

At the Munduli point of the Mahanai in Cuttack district, 1.24 million cusecs water was flowing at 9.00 a.m. Friday against 1.28 million cusec Thursday midnight, he said.

"We hope the water in tributaries will also recede," Panda said.

The state government had earlier alerted the administration of the districts of Jagatsinghpur, Angul, Boudh, Cuttack, Khurda, Nayagada, Jajpur, Kendrapara and Puri, he said.