Typhoon downgraded in China after killing five in Taiwan

Beijing (AFP) - A weakened Typhoon Soudelor made landfall in China and was set to be downgraded Sunday, according to the National Meteorological Center, after the storm killed five people in Taiwan.

Heavy rain poured down on China's Fujian province in the country's southeast, occasionally flooding roads with as much as two metres of water, the official Xinhua news agency reported. No casualties or major damage was reported.

The meteorological centre predicted the typhoon will be downgraded to a tropical depression by Sunday night. Soudelor will then move up China's eastern coast before finally reaching the Yellow Sea by Tuesday, the centre said.

At least 250,000 people were evacuated from the coastal provinces of Fujian and Zhejiang ahead of the typhoon's arrival. The storm cut power to some parts of the eastern coast and damaged crops, state media reported.

The typhoon ripped up trees and triggered landslides in Taiwan, and knocked out power to 1.5 million homes. Rivers broke their banks under torrential rain and towering waves pounded the island's coastline. 

Billed as the biggest typhoon of the year earlier in the week, Soudelor -- named after a legendary Micronesian chief -- has since weakened.

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