Video: https://www.dropbox.com/s/0xst6mom1464bwz/VRP47974.mp4?dl=0
Footage shows flash floods in northern Laos close to the border with China today (July 21).
Heavy rain battered the Luang Namtha region next to China, Myanmar, and Vietnam causing sudden flows from mountains. The muddy torrents then caused a river to burst its banks sending water onto nearby roads.
Remote roads and farm fields were covered in debris washed down from nearby hillsides.
Laos and other countries in Southeast Asia such as Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippines are at the start 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.