Super typhoon Meranti moves from Taiwan to southern China, but loses strength

Typhoon Meranti slammed into southeastern China on Thursday with strong winds and lashing rain that cut power to 1.65 million homes.

The super typhoon, with gusts of up to 227km/h, killed one person and left half a million homes without power in Taiwan. However, there were no reports of more casualties in what has been described as the strongest storm of the year globally.

It made landfall near China's south-eastern city of Xiamen on Thursday morning.

Dozens of flights and train services in southern China have been cancelled and tens of thousands of people evacuated, according to international media.

About 320,000 homes were without power in Xiamen. Across the whole of Fujian province, where Xiamen is located, 1.65 million homes had no electricity, state television said.

Large sections of Xiamen also suffered water supply disruptions and some windows in tall buildings shattered, sending glass showering onto the ground below, state news agency Xinhua said.

In Taiwan, one person was killed and 38 were injured, said officials.

The storm prompted warnings about possible landslides in mountainous areas - 800mm of rain had been forecast in some areas.

According to Reuters, Meranti will continue to lose strength as it pushes inland and up toward China's commercial capital of Shanghai, but will bring heavy rain.