Typhoon Gaemi roared into southeastern China on Thursday after sweeping across Taiwan, where it killed three people, triggered flooding and sank a freighter before barrelling west across the Taiwan Strait.

The typhoon, the biggest to hit China's eastern seaboard this year, made landfall at 7:50 p.m. (1150 GMT) in Fujian province, state broadcaster CCTV said.

The storm is forecast to unleash intense rainfall over much of China after fuelling severe weather from the Philippines to Japan's Okinawa islands with its giant cloud-bands which spanned most of the Western Pacific Ocean.

In Taiwan, the strongest typhoon to hit the island in eight years packed gusts of up to 227 kph (141 mph) before weakening as it made its way across the island, according to the Central Weather Administration.

Some parts of southern Taiwan are expected to have recorded accumulated rainfall of 2,200 mm (87 inches) since Tuesday. The storm cut power to around half a million households, though most are now back online, utility Taipower said.

Chinese weather forecasters predict Gaemi will pass through Fujian and head inland, gradually moving northward with less intensity. But weather forecasters are expecting heavy rain in many areas as it tracks north.