Authorities have evacuated nearly one million people from the southeast coast of China, where Typhoon Morakot was expected to make landfall later Sunday after lashing Taiwan, state media reported.
The Xinhua news agency said that 473,300 residents of the coastal province of Zhejiang had been moved, while more than 480,000 people were evacuated from neighboring Fujian province.
More than 35,000 ships have been called in to port as the storm closes in, bringing torrential rain and heavy wind, Xinhua quoted the provincial flood-control headquarters in Zhejiang as saying.
A number of expressways in the region have been closed as a precaution, the news agency said, quoting the provincial highways management authority.
Parts of Fujian had already reported 30 centimetres (12 inches) of rain from early Saturday until Sunday morning, Xinhua said.
In Taiwan, one person was killed and at least 29 were missing after Morakot lashed the island on Saturday, rescuers and officials said.
Troops were mobilised to rescue tens of thousands of residents trapped in the island's worst flooding in 50 years, officials said.
The typhoon had dumped a massive 2.5 metres (100 inches) of rain on Taiwan's southern Pingtung county by early Sunday, flooding at least three coastal townships, the government said.
Forecasters were expecting Morakot to make landfall in China by Sunday evening.
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