Video: https://www.dropbox.com/s/a9b8ocpqq9lxh3a/VRP58100.mp4?dl=0
This is the astonishing moment a people carrier was washed away during flash floods in Thailand on Friday afternoon.
The vehicle was hit by the muddy torrents after a tropical storm battered the city of Pattaya in the east of the country.
Some roads were submerged in more than a metre of water as debris and household items were washed away in the deluge, which lasted for several hours.
Onlooker Khun Kittisak said: ‘This happened rRight in front of my house, the water came up to my waist. It was very unfortunate for the car.
‘I couldn’t go out to help because the house was flooded to my waist. All of the power outlets were flooded too. The door of the house is an electric door, so I couldn’t open it.’
Thailand and other countries in Southeast Asia such as Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippines are in the middle 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.
Thailand suffers from regular flash floods due to the chronic under investment in its city infrastructure, with drains and sewers overwhelmed with water.