The National Meteorological Center issued a yellow alert for heavy rain on Thursday in southern and eastern China, including Shanghai, which was battered on Wednesday, and warned that flooding and landslides were possible.

Storms are likely to hit regions along the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River through Thursday, affecting Shanghai and the provinces of Hubei, Anhui, Zhejiang, Jiangxi, Hunan and Guizhou, the center said in a statement.

Torrential rain is likely in some northern parts of Hunan, Jiangxi and Zhejiang, as well as southern Anhui, the statement added.