Villagers trapped by floodwaters for two days without electricity, heating or food have been rescued after putting SOS on the roof of the building.

The video of the incident was shot in a village on the outskirts of the prefecture level city of Xinxiang in northern Henan province, in China, that has been hit by flooding.

As well as trying to get by without food and electricity, they also had no clean water because they could not heat it to clean it, and the situation was slowly getting critical.

That was when they hit on the idea of putting SOS which is the internationally recognised distress single on the flat roof of the building.

Rescuers who then flew her head spotted it, and arrange for the family to be rescued. It was not revealed how many people were trapped in the building and how many were rescued.

They were transported to a safe area where they were given food and water and a medical checkup.

Online commentators criticised the family for not having emergency supplies at home, although many said that it might well be that the floods had destroyed the supplies when they washed into the property.