Taipei - Typhoon Kalmaegi has left at least 15 dead, 10 missing and eight injured in Taiwan, a government report said Saturday.

The typhoon has also created 310 million Taiwan dollars (10.2 million US dollars) in agricultural damage, the National Disasters Prevention and Protection Commission said in a report on its website.

At least five low-lying areas in central and southern Taiwan were still inundated by floods brought by torrential rains brought by the typhoon, the commission said.

Authorities Saturday sent thousands of workers and military in action for the typhoon's aftermath, including helping clear thick mud that covered roads and filled residences.

Those killed were either drowned by rising floods or buried alive by mud- and rock-slides, in casualties surprising the government as the typhoon was considered a relatively small one.

President Ma Ying-jeou questioned the Central Weather Bureau for not doing enough to alert the public before Kalmaegi made landfall in Taiwan Friday.

Moving at 19 kilometres per hour, the typhoon packed winds of 83 kilometres per hour and gusts of 108 kilometres per hour when it hit Taiwan, the Central Weather Bureau said.

Kalmaegi began to approach south-east Taiwan Wednesday and moved up north along the east coast, dumping some 900 millimetres of rain on southern and central Taiwan.

The downpour, said to be the worst in a decade, caused landslides and flooding in mountainous regions in central and south Taiwan and left some city streets flooded knee-deep.

The eye of the storm crossed the northern tip of Taiwan Friday morning, and moved to southern China, moving along the Chinese coast. (dpa)