Huge waves pounded Japanese coastal towns as 'super-typhoon' Vongfong battered the southern island of Okinawa on Sunday.

More than 200,000 residents were forced to flee their homes on the island, some 1,000 miles south of Tokyo, before it was hit by what was Japan's most powerful storm this year.

The typhoon, which also caused massive waves on the eastern coast of China, left 31 people injured, flooded streets and cut power to more than 60,000 homes.

The storm is expected to cut across the biggest of Japan's islands, Honshu, on Monday - causing heavy rain in Tokyo - before exiting from the north coast, Japan's Meteorological Agency said.

Vongfong, which means wasp in Cantonese, was following the path of Phanfone, a typhoon that slammed into Japan's main island on Monday, disrupting transport and prompting evacuation advisories for hundreds of thousands of people.

Seven people were killed, including three U.S. airmen swept out to sea and a man who died while surfing.