This is the heroic moment kind neighbours saved a driver being washed away by a flash flood in the Philippines

The motorist was trapped in the deluge when tropical storms battered the region causing torrents of dirty water to gush into the streets on Wednesday morning July 6.

Roads outside homes and buildings were inundated by the sudden deluge in the town of Tisa in Cebu City shortly before sunrise.

Footage from the safety of a nearby roof shows how a blocked drain was even erupting like a volcano with water bubbling up through the streets.

The driver who was caught in the downpour tried to power through the water but the vehicle was washed away and kind locals had to push it to safety.

Onlooker Juanito Amahan said: 'The scale of the floods was scary. Many people were stranded and could not leave their homes. Some people abandoned their cars but this driver was lucky. People went over to help him.'

The Philippines and other countries in Southeast Asia such as Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia and Myanmar are at the start of their tropical monsoon rainy season, which lasts until late November.

Soaring temperatures reaching 35 degrees Celsius are often followed by powerful tropical storms with thunder, lightning, rain and flash floods which cause rivers to flow faster and become dangerous.

Many of the under-developed nations struggle to cope with the heavy rain due to chronic under-investment infrastructure and high levels of corruption funnelling away public funds away from projects such as roads and drainage.

The Philippines was ranked 117 out of 180 - alongside Algeria, Zambia and Nepal - on Transparency International's 2021 Corruption Perception Index. Denmark, Finland and New Zealand were ranked joint first place while South Sudan was at bottom.