Typhoon Kaemi weakened into a tropical depression on Wednesday as it lashed south China with heavy rains and strong winds and forced the evacuation of over half a million people still reeling from tropical storm Bilis.

Two people were killed in the southern Guangdong province, the state television said.

More than 600,000 residents in the southeastern province of Fujian were evacuated as Kaemi made landfall at typhoon strength on Tuesday, after injuring six people, causing floods and cutting off power in parts of Taiwan.

In Fujian and neighbouring Guangdong, boats were moored in ports as fishermen sought shelter from the storm, Xinhua news agency said. Dozens of flights in Fujian's capital Fuzhou and main port city Xiamen were cancelled on Tuesday.

On Wednesday, downpours brought by Kaemi soaked large parts of Fujian, Guangdong and another four provinces in China's south and east, which would continue to see rainfall in the next three days, the country's Central Meteorological Office said.

Authorities have warned of possible landslides and are closely watching already swollen dams and overflowing rivers in the wake of Bilis, urging the relocation of those living near rocky mountain slopes and in valleys, Xinhua said.

"All precautionary measures should be taken to keep losses as low as possible," it quoted an emergency government notice as saying.

Kaemi, meaning "ant" in Korean, had been expected to move northwest to hit the provinces of Zhejiang, Anhui and financial hub Shanghai, which has ordered the reinforcing of billboards, electricity poles and scaffolding.

Shanghai was overcast on Wednesday and expects rain and wind in the evening, but Kaemi's brunt seemed to be moving westward to bring heavy rain to Jiangxi province, northern Guangdong and the southern part of Hunan province, the Meteorological Office said.

It has raised fears of fresh damage in these areas which were hardest hit by Bilis that struck earlier this month, though the office said on its Web site (www.nmc.gov.cn) that Kaemi would move away faster than Bilis did and carried less rain.

Bilis killed 612 people and 200 are still missing in southern China.

In the Philippines, where Kaemi originated on the Pacific, nearly 31,000 people were still unable to return to their homes in Manila and northern areas of the country due to flooding from Kaemi.

Two people were feared dead after they reportedly drowned.

Tropical storms and typhoons frequently strike Taiwan, Japan, the Philippines and southern China during a season that lasts from early summer to late autumn.