This is the moment a storm hit a polling station disrupting ballot counting during the elections in Thailand.

Footage shows residents and officers battling to hold down tents as rain and gusts blew through the station in Ratchaburi province after voting closed on Sunday May 14.

The storm also battered poll booths in Phitsanulok province, with gusts tearing off the covers of the tents. Officers had to suspend the ballot count to move indoors into a nearby temple.

Progressive party Move Forward won the poll comprehensively but military generals - who have rigged the electoral system with 250 of their own appointed senators who can now effectively choose which party rules - are hoping to cling to power with their benign dictatorship which has controlled the country since 2014.

Thailand and neighbouring countries in Southeast Asia are also now approaching their annual monsoon rainy season which sees soaring temperatures followed by powerful rain storms in the afternoon leading to widespread flash floods.