Typhoon Nuri has reached southern China, killing three people, after bringing Hong Kong to a virtual standstill.

Winds of up to 110kph disrupted hundreds of flights on Friday and forced Hong Kong's financial hub to shut down.

Xinhua News Agency reported that in Guangzhou a traffic sign was brought down crushing three people to death in a van below.

Nuri made landfall in the southern province of Guangdong in the late evening and was downgraded to a severe tropical storm.

Tens of thousands of people were evacuated from coastal areas and fishing boats called back to port.

Torrential rain is expected over the weekend as Nuri moves northwest along the Guangdong coastline ebbing towards Macau where flights and ferries have also been cancelled.

About 400 flights were cancelled or delayed by early evening, including those of Hong Kong's two major carriers, Cathay Pacific and DragonAir.

A spokeswoman for the Hong Kong Airport Authority said flights were expected to resume after midnight.

Olympic equestrian events in Hong Kong avoided the worst of the typhoon, with the last showjumping event successfully concluding on Thursday night as the weather began to worsen.

The Guangdong meteorological bureau said Nuri might be the strongest typhoon to hit the province this year.

The last storm of such severity to hit Hong Kong was typhoon Dujuan, which made landfall in September 2003.