Helicopters dropped food and water packets to marooned villagers and rice and fuel was also distributed to those hit by the storm which packed winds of up to 75 km (46 miles) an hour.

"Thirty-one people died in the floods," State Relief Commissioner D.C. Rosaiah told Reuters.

Some 25,000 people were evacuated to relief camps in the districts and engineer teams were working "on a war footing" to repair irrigation tanks, roads and railway tracks damaged by the storm, he said.

Relief officials said Cuddapah town, 418 km (261 miles) south of Hyderabad, was completely flooded after authorities were forced to open the sluice gates of a rapidly rising reservoir.

Thousands of residents were stranded on rooftops in the town or evacuated to nearby high ground.

Officials said boats had been pressed into service to evacuate hundreds of other villagers threatened by rising waters in other parts of the state.