This is the dramatic moment a baby and mother were rescued from severe floods in southern Thailand.

Rescue teams battled through raging floodwaters to save the pair from their swamped home in Songkhla province, where more than 100 residents have died.

Footage shows them being ferried across the deluge in a small boat on November 27.

Officers helped the exhausted mother onto the back of a waiting truck. They carefully passed her infant, swaddled in a blanket and secured with a life preserver, into her arms.

The death toll reached 176 as the catastrophic floods, described by Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul as 'the worst flooding in 15 years', swept through southern Thailand.

The premier on Saturday apologised for the government's bungled flood response amid public outrage, telling them 'that the government was unable to take care and protect them'.

Songkhla province suffered the highest death toll, with 131 fatalities. Hat Yai district was among the worst-hit areas, recording a staggering 13 inches (335 mm) of rainfall in a single day on November 21.

The Southern Eastern Meteorological Centre said a strong monsoon trough had caused the heavy rainfall.

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