Rescuers battle floodwaters to reach dozens stranded in homes
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Rescuers battle floodwaters to reach dozens stranded in homes

Rescuers use a rope to carry victims across flood waters in Chaiyaphum province in this screen grab taken from a video from social media on Tuesday. (Hook31 Thailand/via REUTERS)
Rescuers use a rope to carry victims across flood waters in Chaiyaphum province in this screen grab taken from a video from social media on Tuesday. (Hook31 Thailand/via REUTERS)

Rescuers in the northeastern province of Chaiyaphum waded through fast-flowing floods to rescue dozens of people stranded in their homes on Wednesday, as authorities tried to drain away waters and get more help to victims.

At least seven people have died and another is missing in floods over the last week that have affected almost 200,000 households in 30 provinces in the lower north and northeastern Thailand.

Rescuers wearing orange helmets and lifejackets travelled by boats through submerged Chaiyaphum streets to reach people stuck on the roofs of their homes.

Video posted on social media by the Hook 31 private rescue team showed them wading carefully against a current of brown water as high as the windows of abandoned cars, some carrying children on their backs and escorting the elderly along a series of guide ropes.

Authorities have issued warnings over the rising water level of the Chao Phraya river that could bring flooding to Bangkok and surrounding areas.

The government has reassured the public that the situation is manageable and there will be no repeat of the devastating months-long flooding of 2011, which killed hundreds of people, damaged vast swathes of farmland and paralysed Bangkok and its industrial belt. 

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