People stand in front of an overflowing dam in Dindi, Andhra Pradesh, on Thursday. (PTI)

Hyderabad, Oct. 2: Two days of rain have plunged swathes of Andhra Pradesh from drought to floods, with 65 people reported missing and Vijayawada city facing a threat of looting by the thousands left without food and water.

Officials said a depression over the Bay of Bengal had emptied 860mm of rainwater into Kurnool and Mahboobnagar districts, causing the Tungabhadra and Krishna inflows to smash a 100-year-old record. Districts reporting a 60 per cent deficit monsoon were now surplus by 100 per cent.

The rain wrought havoc in neighbouring Karnataka too, with 56 deaths overnight raising the toll to 106 in the state, where 26,000 dwellings have been damaged or destroyed, PTI reported. No deaths have been reported officially in Andhra yet.

Hundreds of devotees were stranded in the southern pilgrim town of Mantralayam, where the pontiff of the Raghavendra Swamy Mutt, Suchistrananda Theertha, was evacuated by a government helicopter after floodwaters entered the shrine. The starving pilgrims spent a sleepless night on rooftops, at bus stands and guesthouses.

Power supply has been shut in four districts to prevent electrocutions, and drinking water supply has been stopped after rainwater entered the filters.

In September, the state government had declared a drought in 940 of the state’s 1,100 mandals (tehsils) and sought central assistance of Rs 2,500 crore; now it has to seek flood relief.

“We have pressed eight helicopters and two cargo aircraft and also hundreds of naval boats into rescue and relief activities in Kurnool and Mahboobnagar,” chief minister K. Rosaiah said.