ST. JOHN’S, N.L. – Officials with the Canadian Hurricane Centre say the centre of tropical storm Leslie has made landfall in Fortune, N.L.

Meteorologist Bob Robichaud says the potent storm touched down at around 8:30 a.m. local time as it continued to barrel north-northeast.

He says a swath of the province from Fortune, on the Burin Peninsula, all the way east to St. John’s on the Avalon Peninsula was seeing stiff winds and heavy rains.

Winds were still building, with the St. John’s airport recording hurricane-force gusts of up to 131 km/h, while waves were reaching 10 metres at an offshore buoy.

There were widespread power outages in St. John’s and communities along the southeastern coast of the Avalon.

The western portion of the province was also being doused with heavy rains, but Robichaud didn’t have rainfall totals even though rains of up to 150 millimetres were expected.