Earlier this week, Fanapi claimed two lives in Taiwan and did tens of millions of dollars of damage on the Island [AFP]

Thirteen people have been killed and 33 others are missing, days after typhoon Fanapi swept across southern China, triggering severe flooding and mudslides.

Fanapi made landfall on mainland China on Monday, as the strongest storm to hit the country this year -  and it continued to drop heavy rain on parts of the region, state media reported on Wednesday.

All of the deaths in southern China have occurred in Guangdong province. The state-run Xinhua news agency said the dead included five people killed when a dam at the Xinyi Yinyan Tin Mine in Xinyi city was hit by a landslide and collapsed.

Nearly 350 houses were toppled in Xinyi, Xinhua reported. Twenty-five of the 33 missing disappeared in a rain-triggered mudslide.

Fanapi is moving to the west at a speed of up to 10km an hour, dumping torrential rains in its wake, meteorologists said.

In southern Taiwan, two people died in flash flooding caused by Fanapi, which caused tens of millions of dollars in damage, dumping more than one metre of rain in some places earlier this week.

Fanapi was the first major storm to strike the island this year and the 11th typhoon to hit China. It had weakened significantly before landing in China's Fujian province.