At least one person was killed and 11 are missing after they were buried by a landslide in central China as the region continued to battle severe flooding caused by Typhoon Saudel.

The landslide hit Gaoping, a town in a mountainous area of Jiangxi province, at around 4am on Saturday, according to state broadcaster CCTV.

It said rescue teams were rushing to the disaster site.

The accident followed days of torrential rain brought by the outer bands of Typhoon Saudel and a cold front.

Floodwaters have inundated Suichuan county, where the landslide struck, trapping residents, triggering road collapses and severely disrupting essential public services.

The local water supplier issued an emergency notice warning that raw water quality had reached unsafe levels as a result of the floods and advised residents to let their tap water settle in containers before use.