Typhoon Lekima made landfall at around 1am local time on Saturday (6pm Friday BST). At least 13 people were killed and 16 are missing after a landslide in Wenzhou was triggered by the storm. More than a million people have been evacuated. Lekima is now slowly winding its way north through the Zhejiang province, and is expected to hit Shanghai, which has a population of more than 20 million. The storm is expected to weaken as it moves inland, but not before dumping catastrophic amounts of rain and punishing winds.
Taiwan has already seen winds of more than 120mph (190km/h), equivalent to a Category 3 hurricane in the Atlantic.
The storm was initially designated a “super typhoon”, but weakened slightly before landfall in Wenling, between Taiwan and China’s financial capital Shanghai – when it still had winds of 116mph (187km/h).
Emergency crews have battled to save stranded motorists from floods, while fallen trees and power cuts are widespread.
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Shanghai evacuated some 250,000 residents, with another 800,000 in the Zhejiang province also being moved from their homes.
Flood warnings have been issued for eastern sections of China’s Yangtze River and the Yellow River until Wednesday.
The provinces of Jiangsu and Shandong are also on alert.
Boats have been told to delay their planned arrival in Shanghai.
Some train services have been suspended over the weekend.
Beijing has also cancelled some trains heading to and from the Yangtze delta region.
Lekima passed by Japan’s Ryukyu Islands on Thursday and continued northwest on Friday, cutting power to about 14,000 homes, broadcaster NHK reported.
Some 40,000 homes were left without power in Taiwan, where several schools and offices were also forced to close.
The island’s high-speed rail service was suspended north of the city of Taichung, local media reported.
The huge storm came a day after eastern Taiwan was rattled by a 6.0 magnitude earthquake.
READ MORE: Typhoon tracker LIVE: Latest updates as China an Taiwan on high alert
Experts said the risks of landslides triggered by the tremor were made more likely by the typhoon dumping up to 900mm (35 inches) of rain on Taiwan’s northern mountains.
Lekima is one of two typhoons in the western Pacific at the moment.
Further east, Typhoon Krosa is spreading heavy rain across the Northern Mariana Islands and Guam.
Krosa is moving north-west and could strike Japan sometime next week, forecasters said.