An approaching tropical storm triggered mudslides and floods in Japan, killing at least 13 people, local officials said on Monday, bringing weather-related deaths in northeast Asia to about 50 people in the past few days.

Tropical storm Etau is nearing Japan after typhoon Morakot battered the Philippines, Taiwan and China, killing at least 37 and damaging houses and farms.

An official from the Taiwan government's disaster agency told Reuters torrential rains triggered a mudslide that buried a village of about 100 people in Kaohsiung county in Taiwan's south.

"The rescue operations are still going on and we've saved 45 people from the village so far," Liang Yuchu, an official from the Taiwan government's disaster agency, told Reuters.

More than 47,000 people in western Japan were told to evacuate, national broadcaster NHK reported, as the Japan Meteorological Agency warned of rain, floods or mudslides for many areas in western and central Japan.

"The water flashed by in just in a moment," a man told NHK. "I was holding onto the power pole and waiting for an hour and a half."

Several domestic flights and train services were cancelled and some highway*s were partially closed, NHK said.

At least 12 people were killed in Hyogo, western Japan, a police official said. He could not confirm how the victims had died.

In addition, a 68-year-old woman was killed when a mudslide hit a house in Okayama, western Japan, a local official said.

Tropical storm Etau may hit central Japan on Tuesday, an official at the Japan Meteorological Agency said.

It was forecast to bring wind gusts of up to 126 kph (78 mph), heavy rain and high seas, the agency said on its Website (www.jma.go.jp).

Tropical storms and typhoons regularly hit Japan, China Taiwan and the Philippines in the second half of the year, gathering strength from the warm waters of the Pacific Ocean before weakening over land.

For a graphic showing that storm tracks in Asia, please click http://graphics.thomsonreuters.com/RNGS/AUG/ASIA.jpg

Typhoon Morakot killed 22 people in the Philippines then whipped across Taiwan, killing another 14, mostly in swollen creeks, mudslides or boating accidents.

Morakot then battered China's populous east coast, collapsing more than 1,800 houses in the province of Zhejiang and killing at least one child, the official Xinhua news agency said. One million people were evacuated before the storm made landfall.

The typhoon has caused an estimated 2.2 billion yuan (193 million pounds) in damage in China, Xinhua reported. In Taiwan, agricultural-related losses were estimated at T$4.2 billion ($128 million).

 Reuters