Bruised but not knocked out

Hurricane Gonzalo left the island bruised but not beaten on Saturday morning. It had slowed in both pace and power when it reached landfall at 8.30pm on Friday.

The Atlantic Ocean is 41 million sq miles wide and Bermuda is a 20.6 sq mile island in the middle of it, yet the eye of the Gonzalo still managed to cross straight over the it bringing darkness and an eerie silence except for the chirping of millions of very confused tree frogs.

Bermuda often feels like a magnet stuck out there in the ocean, but prior to Gonzalo, there had been only 10 hurricanes whose centre’s passed within 75 miles of Bermuda going back to 1899. Although Tropical Storm Fay gave the island a direct hit last weekend.

Hurricane force winds averaged 120 mph and the back end of the storm after the eye passed over the island were the longest and most severe. Commissioners Point, which has an elevation of 262 feet, reported sustained winds of 101 mph and a gust to 144 mph.

I have yet to make contact with our landlord, which would tell me we are still without power, but friends have talked mostly of lucky escapes, with minimal damage to houses, although 85% of the island was without power, but that number is now down to 34% thanks to excellent work by the busy crews of BELCO.

There was damage to the hospital, and as you can see from the photos below Gonzalo left quite a mark on the island with nearly all of the roads declared as unpassable yesterday morning. The airport did re-open Sunday night though and the remnants of Gonzalo will now visit the UK on it’s last stop off.