A mother and her son were rescued after their car was swept away by flash floods.

Sukanya Rueangsawat, 50, was driving the grey Mercedes with her son Apichai, 20, when they were caught in a downpour in Pattaya, Thailand, yesterday afternoon (July 7).

They tried to pass through a submerged road but the vehicle was dragged away by the torrent and tossed onto a grass verge.

The relatives were stranded in the soaked car as muddy water poured through the doors.

Locals smashed a window on the door and the pair clambered to safety. Several locals came to help them and worked together to drag the water-damaged car out of the deluge.

Sukanya said: ''The puddle was not so deep at first but then it covered the wheels. It was too late to turn around.

''My car started spinning away and I could not open the door. It happened so quickly, the rain overpowered me.''

Thailand's rainy season lasts from May to late September. There are regular thunderstorms and heavy rain, which often leads to flash floods as the country's underdeveloped infrastructure struggles to cope with the deluge.