BANGKOK/KUALA LUMPUR - Thailand was preparing on Tuesday to send an aircraft carrier with relief supplies and medical teams to its south, where more heavy rain intensified the worst floods in years, which have killed 13 people and hobbled rescue and evacuation efforts.

Floodwaters running as high as 2 m (6.6 ft) in some areas have hit nine Thai provinces and eight states in neighbouring Malaysia, across a swathe of hundreds of kilometres devastated last year by seasonal monsoon floods that killed 12.