Typhoon Morakot which slammed into China's east coast had affected over 8.836 million residents, with 1.429 million evacuated, six killed and three missing, by 19:00pm of Monday, Ministry of Civil Affairs said.

It earlier lashed Taiwan with torrential rains that caused the island's worst flooding in 50 years. A mudslide triggered by the torrential rains have buried up to 600 villagers in mountainous southern Taiwan, disaster officials said on Monday.

Morakot made landfall on Xiapu, a county in eastern China's Fujian province, carrying heavy rain and winds of up to 74 miles per hour, according to an official at the China Meteorological Administration who refused to give his name or provide other details.

Morakot had affected over 8.836 million residents in four provinces in China: Fujian, Zhejiang, Xi'an and Anhui.

six people have died (four from Zhejiang, one from Fujian, one from Jiangxi) and three were lost (two from Zhejiang, one from Fujian).

It was reported that about 1.429 million residents have been evacuated from China's eastern coastal provinces by early Sunday - more than 490,000 people in Zhejiang and 480,000 others in neighboring Fujian. About 6,000 houses collapsed in the typhoon.

The direct economic loss was estimated to be 9.06 billion yuan ($1.33 billion).

Morakot has weakened into a tropical storm and is expected to reach south of Jiangsu from Zhejiang, weakened but still powerful to bring torrential rain.

The typhoon disaster is likely to continue.

China