The storm Atlantic Canada has been bracing for has hit Newfoundland, with winds of 119 kilometres an hour imploding car windshields and ripping the roof off a highway transport truck.

Heavy winds pounded the north shore of Prince Edward Island. Ferry crossings have been cancelled between Nova Scotia and P.E.I. and between Nova Scotia and Newfoundland.

Officials have banned big trucks from the Confederation Bridge. Power outages were reported throughout the eastern part of P.E.I.

Storm hits parts of the Maritimes

By late evening the worst gusts had passed Newfoundland, and forecasters said they were lifting their wind warnings for the province.

But in P.E.I., weather observers reported that storm surges had combined with high tides to submerge some wharfs and coastal roads along the north shore.

The intensity of the storm is caused by three storms that coalesced in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, producing exceptionally high winds and heavy rain.

"This combination of low pressure in association with the storm in Cabot Strait and the storm-force northwest winds blowing through the region will be elevating coastal sea levels along the southern gulf of St. Lawrence," George Parkes, a meteorologist with the Maritime Weather Centre, said earlier Wednesday.

The storm is expected to dump as much as 50 centimetres of rain on parts of P.E.I. Residents of P.E.I. and Cape Breton were being told to brace for the onslaught. Parkes said no one should be on the water in the Gulf on Wednesday.

The combined storm forces are similar to the deadly "Perfect Storm" that hit the North Atlantic off Nova Scotia in 1991, killing nine and inspiring a book and Hollywood movie.

A decade ago, a low pressure system combined with storm-force northwesterlies and hurricane Grace, travelling north from Bermuda. Winds blew at more than 160 kilometres an hour and waves peaked at 30 metres.