Residents of Newfoundland and Labrador escaped the full wrath of hurricane Gonzalo on Sunday, as the fading storm delivered a glancing blow to the province's southeastern coast.

Gonzalo merely grazed Newfoundland's Avalon Peninsula Sunday morning, bringing up to 70 kilometre-per-hour winds and close to 50 millimetres of rain over land, and 140 kilometre-per-hour winds over water.

Parts of the Avalon Peninsula faced about 55 millimetres of rain per hour earlier Sunday, but the worst of the storm had already passed by mid-morning.

Halifax meteorologist Chris Fogarty said Newfoundland "dodged a bullet" with Gonzalo, which might have been much worse if it had tracked 200 kilometres to the north.

"Things stayed quite quiet over land," Fogarty told The Canadian Press on Sunday. "It pretty much tracked exactly where we thought it would."

Fogarty said the storm brought 12-metre waves and heavy wind gusts, but its effects were minimal on land.

Environment Canada issued a tropical storm watch as Gonzalo approached Saturday night, and added a rainfall warning for the region Sunday morning.

Forecasters had expected the eye of the weakening hurricane to pass over the southeastern tip of the peninsula at Cape Race, but the storm stayed farther out to sea than anticipated.

Newfoundland's offshore oil rigs faced the worst of Gonzalo's 140 kilometre-per-hour winds, but no problems have been reported.

Environment Canada is warning residents to watch out for flash floods and pooling water on roads.

Forecasters expect to downgrade Gonzalo to a post-tropical storm later Sunday as it passes over Newfoundland and into the Atlantic.

Runners in St. John's braved the wet weather early Sunday for the Cape to Cabot Race, a 20-kilometre run across part of the province. The race had been at risk of cancellation due to the weather, but organizers opted to go ahead with it early Sunday.

With files from CTV Atlantic and the Canadian Press