Rescuers carry pensioners to safety across floods in northern Thailand

Rescuers carried stranded pensioners to safety through floods swamping homes in northern Thailand.

Footage shows volunteers giving piggyback rides to elderly locals on September 11 amid evacuations in Chiang Rai, where landslides from heavy rain have killed at least three people.

Gushing muddy waters have submerged streets and left residents trapped inside their houses.

Volunteers rode boats to deliver relief goods. They also ferried flood-stricken families to a relief centre where a mobile relief kitchen was providing food.

Northern Thailand has been battered by continuous heavy rain since September 8 due to the effects of Typhoon Yagi, which has caused chaos in the region.

Yagi, said to be Asia's most powerful storm this year, was downgraded to a tropical storm on Sunday morning, September 8. It killed at least 15 people in the Philippines before slamming into southern China and Vietnam, where it has killed at least 150 people.

The Thai Meteorological Department (TMD) had forecasted isolated heavy rains with gusty winds across the northern and northeastern regions as remnants of the cyclone strengthened the monsoon.