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Typhoon Soudelor kills nine in China

AAP

AAP

Typhoon Soudelor has killed nine people in eastern China after parts of the country were hit by the heaviest rains in a century.

Another three people are missing after the storm caused landslides in rural parts of eastern Zhejiang province, the official Xinhua news agency reported, citing local disaster relief officials.

Wencheng county saw downpours of 645mm in 24 hours – the heaviest rainfall in 100 years – after the typhoon made landfall on Saturday night, it said.

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The storm has caused at least 248 million yuan ($A54.47 million) in damage and cut power to more than two million homes, Xinhua said.

More than a quarter had electricity restored by Sunday morning.

Billed as the biggest typhoon of the year earlier in the week with winds of up to 230km/h, Soudelor – named after a legendary Micronesian chief – has since weakened.

Residents gather to see huge waves stirred up by the typhoon in Wenling, east China's Zhejiang province.

Huge waves are stirred up by the typhoon in Wenling, east China’s Zhejiang province. Photo: Getty

China’s National Meteorological Centre forecast the typhoon will be downgraded to a tropical depression by Sunday night as it moved further inland.

Soudelor left six people dead in Taiwan, where it ripped up trees and triggered landslides, damaging electricity lines and knocking out power to a record four million households.

Almost half-a-million homes were still without power on Sunday, Taiwan Power Co. said, as blocked roads hampered efforts to restore supplies in some areas.

Taiwan’s death toll rose to six after an eight-year-old girl who went missing last Thursday after being swept out to sea with her mother and twin sister was found dead.

Her mother and sister, caught in the strong waves on the east coast, were the first victims of the typhoon.

Some 379 people were injured by the storm in Taiwan, which saw rivers break their banks under torrential rain and towering waves pound the island’s coastline.

Taiwan lifted its typhoon warning on Sunday, but the weather bureau warned of further heavy rains in the south.

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