A family who were stranded in chest-deep floods used an inflatable paddling pool to carry their children to safety.

Footage shows Azriel Nicol Jue Panjan, 29, with his father-in-law and brother-in-law as they pushed the pool to safety during the deluge in Sabah, Malaysia on June 30.

Inside the paddling pool were Azriel's six children, including his one-year-old infant and two-year-old daughter. They used the play device to take the youngsters to higher ground as raging torrents gushed into their home.

The father said he 'just wanted to get the kids to safety'.

He told local media: 'I'm slightly over 150cm tall, but the water was at least 210cm high at the time. We were swimming as we steered the pool to send the children to our neighbour, who was living on a hill about 100m away.

'We were in a race against time because the water was still rising as it rained heavily. We could not fit everyone in the pool as it would sink.'

Phuket in southern Thailand and Malaysia were battered by heavy rain on the same day, causing flash floods across the region.

They are both enduring their annual monsoon rainy season which sees soaring temperatures followed by powerful rain storms. The rudimentary infrastructure often struggles with the deluge, leading to widespread flash floods.