This is the dramatic moment two Buddhist monks and their ten dogs were rescued after being trapped in chest-deep flash floods in Thailand.

The monks were heard calling for help after their village was submerged following heavy rain in Nakhon Ratchasima province on October 27.

Thai Red Cross rescue volunteers, who were searching for survivors at the time, rs turned their rescue lifeboat inside the woods where the sounds were coming from.

They found the soaked monks clinging into tall trees while holding a dog and its seven newborn puppies.

The monks said they retreated to the woods where there is higher ground after the 6ft-deep deluge gushed into their homes, where they found the white dog and her puppies drowning.

They rescued the mother dog who was almost washed away in the water and stayed in that position for almost two hours before they were found by the rescuers.

The brave men reached out to the monks using a long pole to hold on to while they walk in the deep water and reach the boat.

Rescuer Chanchai Supawerakul said the mother dog had taken its newborn puppies on the bank when the flood surged.

He said: "The mother dog cried for help when its shelter in the woods was flooded. Two monks then found dogs and one of them was trapped in the water when he tried to help to pooches."

One of the grateful monks said: "We survived. If the rescue team did not find us, we could have been dead."

The puppies and the dogs were placed in a basket before they sailed again to take them to an evacuation centre.

On their way to the centre, the rescuers found another two trapped dogs standing on top of a huge rock.

The smart pooches jumped into the water and swam near the boat before the rescuers scooped them up.

All of the dogs were given food and water in the evacuation centre along with the affected families.

The annual rainy season lasts from June to November in Southeast Asia and brings heavy downpours and flooding. Vietnam has also been severely hit this year along with Cambodia and the Philippines.