In pictures: China mudslide buries up to 40 people

Between 30 and 40 people were buried by a landslide in southwest China, local officials said, as heavy rains in the area also destroyed homes and bridges.

The landslide in Zhongxing, in the southwestern province of Sichuan, was triggered by rain, the fire brigade of the provincial capital Chengdu said on its verified microblog account.

Rescuers workers have worked to relocate local residents after the landslide hit Shanxi village of Zhongxing township in Dujiangyan, southwest China's Sichuan province. (Getty)

It is not yet known what chances of survival the landslide victims have.

A Zhongxing official told AFP by phone that "so far we only know 11 families were buried and more than 200 residents have been evacuated", but that workers were still searching for others.

A woman looks on at the devestation caused by the landslide. (Getty)

Much of China has been hit by heavy rainfall in recent days, including most of Sichuan, where three bridges have collapsed since Monday. (Getty)

Rescuers evacuate residents from flood-hit areas in Chengdu.(Getty)

Residents walking along a flooded street in Guanghan, southwest China's Sichuan province. (Getty)

Altogether downpours have destroyed 300 homes in Sichuan and neighbouring Yunnan, the state news agency Xinhua said, and about 36,800 people have been relocated.

Several major rivers were seeing "excessive water levels", the report said.

Mountainous areas in China's southwest are prone to landslides and earthquakes.

A landslide east of the Tibetan capital Lhasa buried 83 mine workers in April when it crushed their camp.

In January 46 people -- many of them children -- were killed in a landslide in Yunnan province, after more than 1,000 rescuers worked in freezing temperatures overnight in search of survivors.

China's deadliest natural disaster in three decades struck in Sichuan in 2008, when an earthquake left more than 80,000 people dead. Shoddy building construction was blamed for the high toll.