Typhoon Soudelor barrels through Taiwan, moves toward eastern China

TAIPEI, Taiwan, Aug. 8 (UPI) -- Typhoon Soudelor made landfall on the east coast of Taiwan early Saturday morning, killing at least three and injuring at least 101.

The storm has weakened considerably as it heads toward China's eastern coast, but will remain at hurricane strength, according to forecasts.

Accompanied by winds possibly reaching 143 mph, the powerful storm dumped over 4.25 feet of rain on the island nation. Rainfall reportedly caused at least one landslide during the storm.

Overall, Soudelor left a total of 2,665,000 residents without power, The Weather Channel reports.

Southeast China is on alert as Soudelor makes its way to the coast. The Fujian province is reportedly calling it a "serious threat" and evacuating over 150,000 people from the area.

The province also required fishing boats to return to harbor by Friday morning as the storm -- with power equivalent of a Category 3 hurricane -- nears, Chinese news agency Xinhua reports.