A family in Francois, N.L., narrowly escaped death Wednesday, evacuating their home with only 15 minutes to spare before gale-force winds from tropical storm Florence blew it into the ocean.

Francois, an isolated hamlet with a population of about 100, is accessible only by boat or helicopter. It clings to cliffs on top of a steep and rocky fjord on the south coast.

As 160 km/h winds blew outside their home, which was only a few metres from the edge of an escarpment, Liz Durnford said she was watching TV when she felt the foundation shake.

"Something didn't feel right under my feet," Durnford, 25, told The Canadian Press.

Holding her infant son, she convinced her husband, Cody, that they should leave. He agreed, and 15 minutes later, from the safety of her sister's house, she saw their house slide down the embankment into the ocean.

The 18- by 25-foot three-bedroom house had been built over a previous home's foundation, NTV News was told, and the winds split the building in half.

Kim Courtney, chairwoman of the local services district, said it was the worst winds she'd ever seen.

"There wasn't anything you could do to prepare for a situation like that," Courtney told NTV News.

The winds completely tore the house apart. People from the community combed through the debris on Thursday, trying to salvage some possessions for the now-homeless family. A trust fund is being set up and a town meeting called for Thursday night to discuss fundraising possibilities.

Council crews had worked throughout Wednesday to erect barricades and divert traffic from the beach area, as high winds and heavy seas pounded the seawall that holds back the water.

Florence, downgraded to a tropical storm from hurricane status, knocked out power and toppled trees throughout the area Wednesday.

The storm caused David Wilkins, U.S. ambassador to Canada, to cancel a trip to Gander, N.L., where he was to attend a service commemorating the town's help in accepting diverted commuter flights during the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

But Florence didn't pack the punch that had been predicted. A peak gust of 163 kph and 10-metre waves were recorded by a weather buoy on Sagona Island, off the west end of the Burin Peninsula.

The shores of southern Newfoundland got most of the storm, with Harbour Breton and Marystown hit the hardest. A high school in Marystown was closed due to flooding.

By Thursday night, Florence was about 50 kilometres east of Cape Race at the south end of the Avalon Peninsula, moving north east 41 kph, and was expected to drift off into the Atlantic.

Previous storms have been much more severe in the Atlantic region.

Hurricane Juan killed seven people when it ripped through Nova Scotia in 2003. Tropical storm Gabrielle flooded east-end St. John's five years ago, dumping 119 millimetres of rain and causing millions of dollars in damage.