Dozens of residents and their pets were evacuated this afternoon as tropical storm Pabuk approached southern Thailand.

Footage taken in the Sichon district of Nakhon Si Thammarat shows families being loaded into an army truck.

One man was seen carrying his dog while others held bags of clothing and supplies, to spend several days in an evacuation centre.

Alan Atkinson, a British expat in the region who works for the Royal Thai Police and has helped with emergency preparations, said: ''Everybody is expecting the worst. This could be the worst storm in a long time.

''It's not just the initial battering of winds and heavy rains, but the sustained rainfall over the following hours that could cause severe floods that the infrastructure cannot cope with.''

Tens of thousands of tourists evacuated the popular islands of Koh Samui, Koh Tao and Koh Phangan which are in the path of the storm.

Residents in the area were braced for destruction as 80mph winds lashed the area and 22ft high waves were expected to batter the coast.

Footage shows hundreds of residents and their pets being evacuated this afternoon as tropical storm Pabuk approached southern Thailand.

Footage taken in the Sichon district of Nakhon Si Thammarat shows families being loaded into an army truck.

One man was seen carrying his shaggy haired dog while others held bags of clothing and supplies, for what is expected to be several days in an evacuation centre.

Alan Atkinson, a British expat in the region who works for the Royal Thai Police and has helped with emergency preparations, said: ''Everybody is expecting the worst. This could be the worst storm that people here have seen in their lifetimes.

''It's not just the initial battering of winds and heavy rains, but the sustained rainfall over the following hours that could cause severe floods that the infrastructure cannot cope with.''

Tens of thousands of tourists evacuated the popular islands of Koh Samui, Koh Tao and Koh Phangan which are in the path of the storm.

Residents in the area were braced for destruction as 80mph winds lashed the area and 22ft high waves were expected to batter the coast.

The acting mayor of Koh Tao said boats to Chumphon province - the nearest mainland port from the holiday islands - were crammed with tourists, but several thousand guests were staying put to brave the storm.

Pabuk, which means a giant catfish in Lao, is also expected to dump heavy rain across the south, including tourist hotspots in the Andaman Sea such as Krabi and the southernmost provinces bordering Malaysia of Pattani, Narathiwat and Yala.