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We hitched a ride on a rescue boat and took it through an area just flooded.

To understand the sheer force of this slow-moving disaster, imagine there had been just a few inches of water here for days, then in hours, it turned into a lake. Many here expected some flooding but not this.

The Khramen family wound up trapped in their house.

They've moved to a relative's place carrying just a few belongings and, as is the case for so many flood victims here, it could be weeks before the water recedes and they know how bad the damage is.

In areas where the flooding is still manageable, we found people making the best of a bad situation (there is concern about disease but luckily water receded quickly here).

This suburb flooded in just hours forcing people to get around however they could.

Most we met were in good spirits despite the flood threat.

There was an undercurrent of panic though, here a man drags a huge pile of free sandbags away from a distribution center, having waited with hundreds of others for hours.