Eight people have been killed, at least 34 are missing after flooding in Chongqing, China Environmental Issues

The landslide buried houses and forced the evacuation of more than 1,100 people.

Rescuers are scrambling to find dozens of people missing in the southwestern Chinese city of Chongqing after buildings buried in the area were destroyed, according to Chinese officials.

The landslide occurred at around 9:10am (01:10 GMT) on Friday in Chongqing’s Pengshui district, killing eight people, leaving 34 unaccounted for and displacing more than 1,100 people, state media said.

Footage released by Chinese broadcaster CCTV showed large rocks and dirt covering part of a residential and commercial street at the bottom of a hill in the area.

Ten people have been rescued from the debris, including two who were seriously injured, reported the Chinese newspaper Xinhua.

Water, electricity and gas were shut off within a one-kilometer (0.6-mile) radius of the crash to prevent further disruption. More than 800 rescuers have gone to the scene, CCTV said.

Officials said they sent more than 8,000 disaster relief items to Chongqing, including tents, rollaway beds and family emergency kits.

Pengshui County is located in the southeast of Chongqing, bordering Hubei and Guizhou provinces.

The area where the landslide occurred is known as an “unpredictable” slope, a local official told a press conference, adding that dangerous rocks will remain on the side of the cliff.

The government has allocated 50 million yuan ($7.36m) in natural disaster relief funds to support rescue operations and help victims, the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Emergency Management said.

Chinese President Xi Jinping called on officials to organize a scientific search and rescue operation and quickly investigate the cause of the accident, according to Xinhua.

China suffered another flood earlier this month in the mountainous region of western China’s Gansu province, which killed 21 people.