SAMUT PRAKAN: A high tide overflowed causing flash flooding in about 40 homes on Thursday night.

Moo 5 village of tambon Khlong Dan was flooded without warning about 7.30pm. Within 10 minutes about 40 houses were inundated by water up to a metre deep. There were no injuries, but property damage was serious.

Somjai Srisook, a retired irrigation official, said it was an unusually high and overflowed the protection of the under-construction Cholahan Pichit pumping station. All houses in the village were flooded, with many people stranded in their homes, he said.

Villager Chaluay Khaohomklin, 50, said construction workers ran to warn residents of the danger, but the water advanced too fast for her to move her belongings.

"The water was waist deep. This has never happened here before, not since I settled here when I was seven," she said.

Samut Prakan governor Chatchai Uthaipan said the tide was as high as 3.7 metres and overflowed the levees.

All local pumps were usedto drain the water from the low-lying area, and levees and embankments at the site and nearby would be raised higher to prevent a recurrence, he said.