A strong typhoon roared into southern China yesterday, bringing powerful winds and heavy rain to the region after leaving more than a dozen fishermen missing in the Philippines.

Nearly 200,000 people in southern China were evacuated before Typhoon Mujigae made landfall near the city of Zhanjiang in Guangdong province just after 2pm, according to the National Meteorological Centre.

By 7pm on Sunday its centre was located about 285 miles west of Hong Kong and moving steadily inland.

The centre had already issued a red alert - China's highest level of weather preparedness - warning that as much as 11ins of rain could fall in some places from Sunday to Monday morning.

There were no reports of injuries or damage from the storm.

Packing winds of 112mph at its centre, Mujigae - which means rainbow in Korean - was moving north-west at about 12mph.