Widespread flooding in southern Thailand has killed at least 33 people in the past few days.
Floods have swept through nine Thai provinces and eight states in neighbouring Malaysia for a second successive year, prompting both countries to evacuate nearly 45,000 people.
“Authorities say 33 people have died across seven provinces, with causes including flash floods, electrocution and drowning,” Thai government spokesman Siripong Angkasakulkiat said on Wednesday.
“The water level is expected to recede in the south.”
Floods have affected more than 980,000 homes and 2.7 million people in Thailand, the Interior Ministry said.
The government declared a state of emergency in Songkhla province on Tuesday, with torrential rain since late last week inundating the tourist centre of Hat Yai and the southern region.
More than 1,200 people have been evacuated from their homes in Songkhla since Thursday, the province's public relations department said.
Thailand regularly records heavy rainfall from June to September, but experts say climate change has intensified extreme weather, making conditions increasingly unpredictable.
In Indonesia, up to 13 people are believed dead after floods and landslides this week, while one person has died in Malaysia.
In Hat Yai, a public health official said helicopters would deliver food and evacuate patients after the first floor of the main government hospital was inundated. About 600 patients, including 50 in intensive care, were being treated at the hospital.
On a single day last week Hat Yai received 335mm of rain, the most in 300 years.
Military helicopters were also carrying generators to the hospital, the Thai Navy said. It posted photos on social media of equipment being moved to a rooftop under dark grey skies.
