The typhoon made landfall on Taiwan's east coast early in the day, sparking flash floods in some areas and leaving more than 150,000 homes without power.

Dozens of flights were cancelled, rail service was suspended and the stock exchange was shut down for the day, as were many offices, as winds of up to 126 kilometres (78 miles) per hour whipped the island as the storm headed towards China.

A 68-year-old man died in southeastern Taitung county when the gale-force winds blew him off the roof of his home, which he had been trying to repair during the storm, the National Fire Agency said.

Of the six people hurt, four of them lived in the capital Taipei, said the agency, which coordinates rescue missions here.

In eastern Hualien county, Shoufeng township was inundated for several hours, causing panic among its 20,000 residents.

"The typhoon introduced so much rainfall in the morning that it could not be taken by the existing drainage system so the streets were flooded," Chiu Mei-shu, head of the township, told AFP.

She said up to 70 centimetres (28 inches) of water covered the streets, but the water levels later subsided when the rains stopped.

All domestic flights and 56 international flights were scrapped, the Civil Aeronautics Administration told AFP.

The state-run Taiwan Power Co said electricity had been cut off to more than 150,000 households island-wide, and that fierce winds forced the company to curtail the operation of two generators at a nuclear plant in the north.

President Ma Ying-jeou urged residents to beware the possible danger of floods and mudslides, saying: "We must maintain a high level of vigilance."

Hundreds of residents were evacuated from eastern coastal villages before the storm made landfall, and thousands of fishing boats were ordered to return to port.

Authorities put 425 rivers on their alert list for possible flash floods.

Taiwan's Central Weather Bureau had come under fire for underestimating the impact of tropical storm Kalmaegi, which struck the island earlier this month, leaving 20 people dead and six others missing.

After crossing the Taiwan Strait, the eye of the typhoon made landfall at 10:00 pm at Fuqing city in southeast China's Fujian province, the official Xinhua news agency reported.

The storm was expected to bring further heavy rain and strong winds to coastal areas of the province early Tuesday, it said.

Authorities in Fujian and Zhejiang provinces had evacuated 230,000 people from coastal areas and ordered another 270,000 residents of fishing communities to return to port, state media reported.

Three people went missing in the northern Philippines at the weekend when Fung-wong brushed past the northern tip of the main island of Luzon, causing widespread flooding, landslides and power outages, rescue officials said.

burs/mtp

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