Hurricane Larry made landfall as a Category 1 storm in eastern Newfoundland, arriving near South East Bight around midnight local time Saturday, according to the National Hurricane Centre in Miami.

The storm crashed inland on the western shores of Placentia Bay on the Burin Peninsula with maximum sustained winds of 130 kilometres per hour, bringing heavy rain and pounding seas.

Newfoundland Power is reporting that thousands of customers have been blacked out in several areas including St. John’s, Mount Pearl, North East Avalon and the Southern Shore.

Widespread outages are also reported in Whitbourne, Conception Bay North, Cape Shore and the Burin Peninsula.

Environment Canada says Larry is currently tracking across Trinity Bay and will eventually move northeast of the island later Saturday morning.

The agency says wind gusts topping 180 kilometres an hour have been observed across southern exposed and elevated areas of the southern Avalon. A peak gust of 145 kph was recorded at St. John’s International Airport.