Nearly a million people had been evacuated from Fujian and Zhejiang provinces as Morakot approached.
The storm made landfall in the coastal area of Beibi Town, Xiapu County in Fujian province at about 4:20 p.m. Sunday (4:20 a.m. ET), according to China's state-run Xinhua news agency.
Morakot's winds were clocked at 118 kilometers per hour (73 mph) in its eye, according to the province's meteorological bureau as cited by Xinhua.
Five houses were destroyed as the front of the typhoon brought flooding rains to Wenzhou City in neighboring Zhejiang province just after 8 a.m. Sunday, Xinhua said.
Three adults and a 4-year-old boy were buried in debris about 8 a.m.; rescue workers were unable to save the child, and he died, the city's flood-control headquarters told the news agency.
More than 300 homes collapsed, and more than 16,000 hectares (39,500 acres) were flooded, Xinhua said. The city's airport was closed and 56 roads were rendered impassable.
As the eye of the storm reached Beibi, the sky turned completely dark, and people caught in rainstorms staggered as they used flashlights to see, Xinhua reported. Trees were being uprooted and torn apart by damaging winds.
Farmers were attempting to recapture large amounts of fish, flushed from mudflat farms by high winds, Xinhua said.As of about 9:40 p.m. Sunday, the storm remained about 600 kilometers (372 miles) south-southeast of Shanghai, said CNN meteorologist Karen McGinnis. It was still at tropical-storm strength, she said, and is forecast to hit Shanghai within the next 24 to 48 hours as a weakened tropical storm.
Late Friday, the storm lashed Taiwan, killing two people, wounding 15 and knocking off power to about 650,000 households, according to Hong Kong's Metro Radio.
