Canada

Photo: The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.

A fallen tree sits on vehicles and houses caused by superstorm Sandy in Toronto on Tuesday, October 30, 2012. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Frank Gunn

Southern Ontario, Quebec and parts of the Maritimes are being lashed by superstorm Sandy this morning as the massive weather system churns its way north.

The destructive post-tropical storm has already wheeled through the northeastern U.S., where it has been responsible for flooding, widespread power outages and at least 16 deaths, and is now walloping parts of Canada with strong winds and heavy rain.

For forecasters, the sheer size of the storm is what sets it apart.

"It's huge," said Rob Kuhn, a severe weather meteorologist with Environment Canada's Ontario Storm Prediction Centre.

"We're dealing with strong winds from southern Ontario and eastern lower Michigan, all the way through Quebec into parts of the Maritimes and across a large part of the north eastern states."

Southern Ontario is expected to bear the brunt of the storm today, with powerful winds being more of a concern for forecasters than the rain. Tens of thousands of customers lost their electricity in both Ontario and Quebec.

"Some of the strongest gusts from this storm in Canada will come in southern Ontario, especially if you're either over higher ground northwest of Toronto or near the south shore of the Great Lakes," Kuhn told The Canadian Press.

"There will be some places that will be chiming in with wind gusts close to 100 kilometres per hour."

Those gusts claimed a life in Toronto Monday night, city police said a woman had been killed by a falling sign as winds blowing at about 65 kilometres per hour whipped the city. Sandy was unleashing its wrath on New York City at the time, but the Canadian Hurricane Centre said the impact of the weather system extended over a thousand kilometres away from the storm.

Many Canadians living in Sandy's path have already taken to Twitter and Facebook to discuss the power outages, rattling windows and damage to backyards caused by the storm