Villagers carried their belongings and even placed their pet cats in open plastic bags as flash floods swept through Chanthaburi province in central Thailand on Monday.

Footage shows several villages almost completely submerged, with houses along the river taking the brunt of the damage from the tail-end of typhoon Kompasu hitting the area.

Kompasu moved through the Philippines, China and Vietnam before the tail-end made landfall in Thailand and gradually passed.

Thailand and other countries in Southeast Asia such as Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippines are in the middle of their tropical monsoon rainy season, which lasts until October or November. Soaring temperatures reaching 35 degrees Celsius are often followed by powerful tropical storms with thunder, lightning, rain and flash floods.

Thailand suffers from regular flash floods due to the chronic under-investment in its city infrastructure, with drains and sewers overwhelmed with water.