Eight people are missing after a landslide in the central Hunan province on Sunday, local authorities said.

The landslide happened in Douxi Village, Xinhuang Dong Autonomous County of Huaihua City, and was reported to the county's emergency response centre at around 4am.

It led to the collapse of four houses.

All other people at the site have been relocated to safe areas, and rescue work is underway.

The county has been hit by heavy rain.

Meanwhile, the National Meteorological Centre has renewed an orange alert for rainstorms and issued a blue alert for severe convective weather.

From Sunday to Monday morning, heavy rains and rainstorms are forecast to hit parts of Anhui, Shanghai, Zhejiang, Jiangxi and Fujian, among other regions, the centre said.

And parts of Anhui, Jiangxi, Zhejiang and Guizhou are forecast to be hit by torrential rains.

The centre also issued a blue alert for severe convective weather in multiple regions.

Thunderstorms, gales and hail will sweep parts of Jilin, Liaoning, Hebei, Shandong, Anhui, Shanghai, Hunan, Jiangxi and Zhejiang.

China has a four-tier weather warning system, with red representing the most severe warning, followed by orange, yellow and blue. (Xinhua)