When news broke in northern Thailand that an entire soccer team was trapped in a flooded cave, Mae Bua Chaicheun — a local rice farmer — dropped everything and headed to the mountainside to help.

Like hundreds of Thais in the two weeks since she volunteered her services to support the rescue workers desperately trying to find the boys in the Tham Luang cave complex.

For nearly a week she worked near the entrance to the cave cooking meals to feed the soldiers and navy divers working inside the cave, as well as the growing army of volunteers like herself supporting the search.

And as Mae Bua Chaicheun worked as a cook, Thai military teams began a massive operation to drain the floodwaters from the cave to help divers reach further inside to find the boys.

Sorry, this video has expired Rescuers pump water and drill rock inside cave where Thai boys are trapped

For nearly two weeks huge pumps have sucked vast amounts of water out of the cave's flooded chambers, sending more than 130 million litres of water gushing down the mountainside.

Only when she returned home a week after the boys went missing, did Mae Bua Chaicheun realise where this new "river" had ended up.

The waters had flooded her rice fields — and those of nearly a dozen other farmers around — destroying some of their crops.

"I'd only just planted the seed not long before I went to the cave as a volunteer," she said.

"When I got home the water was two feet deep, and the young plants were flooded."

Water pumped out of the cave's flooded chambers made its way down the mountainside into the rice fields. ( ABC News: Billy Cooper )

Mae Bua Chaicheun owns about five acres of land at Ban Nong O, a small village downstream from the mountain, where the caves are found.

Since her husband died she tends the land on her own. Neither of her two adult children have a clue how to grow rice, she says laughing.

So, when she left to volunteer for five days nobody was there to look after her crop.

But Mae Bua Chaicheun doesn't care. She says all she wants is for the twelve soccer boys and their coach to come out of the cave alive.

"It doesn't matter. It's fine. I just want the children to get out alive," she says.

"Children are more important than rice. The rice can always regrow. But we can't regrow the children."

Sorry, this video has expired Thai boys in high spirits as rescuers plan next move.

Mae Bua Chaicheun was luckier than others nearby. Her rice was damaged but not destroyed.

Many local farmers lost their crops altogether. Although they're eligible for some government compensation, worth about 1,113 Thai baht ($45) per "rai" — which is less than half an acre.

Last week, when farmers realised the waters pumped from the cave were flooding their rice fields, authorities installed another pump downstream to divert the water away from their land.

Those who lost their rice — at Ban Nong O and other nearby villages — have had to start from scratch and plant a new crop.

But Mae Bua Chaicheun doesn't regret a thing. She still expects to harvest a crop later this year.

Mae Bua Chaicheun doesn't care about her flooded crops — she just wants the team to get out alive. ( ABC News: Billy Cooper )

And as the rescue effort at the Tham Luang cave site intensifies, she even plans to return to work again as a volunteer.

"Tomorrow I'll work in the field," she says.

"And on Sunday I'll go back to the mountain.

"I'll go every second day. Because if I go to the cave every day, I won't be able to feed myself. I'm the only one who can look after the rice."

As Mae Bua Chaicheun speaks to the ABC, the television is on showing the latest weather at the rescue site.

"I pray for those children every day, that they come out soon," she said.

"And I make a blessing to the other volunteers — those who are helping to find them."

She says the huge rescue effort has helped to unite Thais all over the country.

"I feel people have shown more love towards each other," she said.

"There's such a strong community spirit, people all wanting to help each other."