TOKYO, July 15 (Reuters) - Typhoon Man-yi killed three people and injured more than 70 in Japan but weakened to a tropical storm on Sunday as it moved across the country's central region bringing heavy rain, strong winds and landslides.

Man-yi was moving east-northeast at 35 km per hour (22 mph) as it reached the Tokai region after ripping through the southernmost main island of Kyushu on Saturday, the Meteorological Agency said.

The storm was weakening with winds of up to 162 km per hour (101 mph), but forecasters still warned of flooding and landslides as it looked to brush by Tokyo later in the day.

Man-yi, which approached Japan's southern Okinawa islands late last week, has killed three people, including a 11-year-old boy swept away by a fast-moving river on Saturday while trying to pick up a ball.

One man was missing and 73 were injured, NHK television said. Man-yi was classified as a tropical storm by British-based Web site Tropical Storm Risk (www.tropicalstormrisk.com), down from a category 1 typhoon on Saturday and category 4 on Friday.

Television footage showed high winds pounding rocky shorelines in the central prefecture of Shizuoka, while a landslide further north in Chiba flattened one house.

Officials had advised thousands of households to evacuate, while around 4,200 people fled to evacuation centres on their own.

The storm also disrupted travel for many during a three-day holiday weekend, with train services halted, highways closed and 213 flights cancelled, including those to and from Shanghai and Seoul, NHK said.

Power outages hit 744 households while some regions also had water cut off by landslides.

Rain would weaken as Man-yi veered off into the Pacific Ocean by Monday, the Meteorological Agency said.

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