One man drowned and five people are still missing after a bridge in central Taiwan collapsed under the force of the rising waters, sending cars plunging into the river below, the National Fire Agency said.

Another man drowned when the motorbike he was riding skidded into the sea. The other two victims were an elderly couple buried alive by a mudslide that engulfed their home in central Taiwan, the agency said.

Sinlaku caused landslides and power blackouts and uprooted trees after making landfall in northeastern Ilan county early Sunday, packing winds of up to 173 kilometres (107 miles) per hour.

In central Nantou county, flash floods washed away a worker as he tried to fix power systems and a woman is feared drowned after falling into a river.

A 69-year-old farmer was reported missing in Changhua county and rescuers were searching Sun Moon Lake in central Taiwan for a fisherman who has not been seen since the storm.

The 11th missing report came from Lushan, a scenic hot spring resort in central Nantou county, where a woman was buried alive by tonnes of mud and two hotels were brought down by rising floods.

In the same county, dozens of rescuers braving rain pulled out seven people from three cars buried by tonnes of rock and mud, the fire agency said.

Taiwan's Central Weather Bureau downgraded Sinlaku into a storm as it moved away from the island towards Japan.

China has evacuated nearly half a million people from coastal areas and ordered fishing boats to return to harbour, but officials there said they expected to escape the storm's worst effects.

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