Fabian covered by Gazette team

Today's coverage of Hurricane Fabian was put together by a team of 25 reporters, photographers and sub-editors: Gayle Alleyne, Bob Amesse, Robyn Bardgett, Stephen Breen, Patrick Burgess, Ivan Clifford, Tony Cordeiro, Marcus Day, Gareth Finighan, Rene Hill, Ayo Johnson, Mairi Mallon, Adrian Robson, Dan Rutstein, Tamell Simons, David Skinner, Karen Smith, Matthew Taylor, Tania Theriault, Sarah Titterton, Lawrence Trott, Neil Ward, Matt Westcott, Carla Zuill and Lilla Zuill.

Residents warned as power poles snap in half

Residents and sightseers were kept away from dangerous felled electricity poles which littered North Shore between Pembroke and Flatts.

Poles, which run along the sea front side of the road, either were hanging over the road or had snapped in half. Others jutted out towards the sea at right angles.

Electricity cables had snapped and lay across the roads or were just barely holding up the swinging poles.

The road was blocked off with concrete blocks in order to stop sightseers travelling between Glebe Road and Dock Hill.

But while the road was "impassable" for motorists and pedestrians, one bike rider tried in vain to get through - only to be eventually forced off the road by the amount of dangerous debris.

Winifred Outerbridge, who lives on the corner of Dock Hill and North Shore, was with her sister Frances when the poles cracked and the lines came down in high winds.

Her sister was cooking at the time, and both stopped in their tracks when they heard the noise.

Ms Outerbridge said: "It happened just after 4.30 p.m. yesterday. The winds blew up and then I heard a crack. I looked out and I saw the wires come flying down. It was terrifying."

Her next door neighbour, Caesar Grahame, also heard the loud noise. "One of the poles flew down and hit the side of my roof. It just blew down after. I was lucky and I only have a crack on my wall and no roof damage and luckily no-one was hurt."

He added his wall was 18 inches thick, and withstood the battering it got from the flying poles and debris.

Neighbours help elderly woman

Neighbours pulled together to help the elderly and the vulnerable in a tight knit Pembroke neighbourhood this morning.

And Margaret Seaman, an 83-year-old widow originally from St. Kitts, appreciated the help.

Chunks of the roof of her two-bedroom house on Seagull Lane, Pembroke were blown off by the storm yesterday afternoon.

"My kind neighbours have come and put on the tarpaulin," she said. "I called 911 and they took my name and everything but I didn't get the chance to tell them I'm a widow and living alone," she added.

Ms Seaman has lived in the house, which was relatively untouched by Hurricane Emily, since 1975.

"I started seeing pieces in the yard and was wondering where in the world they were coming from," she said.

The pieces turned out to be from her roof and soon every room but her second bedroom was leaking.

"My neighbours are taking care of me which I appreciate very much."

Further down the road a young family of three, including three-year-old Zachary, had to take to the basement after losing about three quarters of their roof. They moved to a relative's house about an hour later when water started leaking into the basement an they were concerned that roof slates might start to smash through the wooden floor.

"The house started crumbling in at around 7 p.m.," said Jason Floyd.

"I have never felt that kind of terror before," said his wife Karen. "You get so scared you can't even speak." But she added: "It's all right. We're all alive. The hamster made it, the cat made it and the fish made it."

The Royal Gazette counted more than a dozen houses with substantial roof damage in the Spanish Point and Fairyland areas in a half hour drive through.

A narrow escape

The Royal Palms Hotel, on Rosemont Avenue just outside Hamilton, appeared to be one of the few places on the Island which had full electricity, telephone lines and running water throughout the storm.

About 25 guests were able to enjoy television and two hot meals.

Co-owner Susan Weare said the hotel's investment in January to put all its BELCO lines underground appeared to have paid off.

"We just consider ourselves very fortunate. We felt were in a safe environment. We didn't lose a window or a roof and the big investment of putting the lines underground has paid off. I think we must have been in one of the best situations."

Police confirmed the roofs at all four stations - Somerset, Hamilton, Prospect headquarters, and St. George's.

At the docks in Hamilton, there were containers pushed onto the roads, boats wrenched out the water at Hamilton Harbour.

Across the Islands, neighbours pulled together to help each other out by clearing smaller roads with chainsaws and Regiment soldiers were seen along Trimingham Hill.

Bermuda legend Johnny Barnes was out this morning, waving and telling people he loved them just hours after Fabian departed.

But extensive damage to his usual spot near Trimingham roundabout forced Mr. Barnes, resplendent in a pink ruffled shirt and bow-tie, to move further up East Broadway.

The beachside restaurant owned by Sonesta Beach at Cross Bay, Southampton, was totally wiped out by Fabian.

Lorna Wilson, whose house overlooks Cross Bay, said: "It is totally destroyed. You can see the cesspit four feet out of the sand. It is devastated, they will have to take the whole thing down.

"Cross Bay met Sinky Bay as the whole area was waterlogged. And the big rock off Cross Bay had bits of rock knocked off. I've never seen anything like this in my life."

Four windows were knocked out on the house, but Mrs. Wilson said: "We are so lucky, we are blessed.

"This was a force of God to reckon with. This must be one of the best spots on the island to watch the storm.

"I didn't think anything could rock this house. Our main problem was the pressure was so great inside the house out ears were popping."

Residents at the Mary Victoria/Alexandra Road neighbourhood are thanking their lucky stars after surviving hurricane Fabian without any major property damage whatsoever.

"The saying of the day up here is 'thank God we're middle of the road'," said one resident. "Because we don't have a boat and we don't have a house on South Shore. Our yards are so small we only have lawn furniture."

They're thankful for what little damage there is - roof gutters blown away - because it will force the Bermuda Housing Corporation which maintains the property to get on with some long overdue maintenance.

The low cost housing development was built in the 1970s and consists mainly of prefabricated homes built to withstand winds of up to 120 mph.

The residents did not lose their power supply or telephone lines because of underground cables.

But facilities at the nearby national stadium and Bernard Park suffered mangled stands and other damage. And a brief tour of CedarBridge Academy revealed some roof damage.

Dockyard residents thank their stars

Residents at the Mary Victoria/Alexandra Road neighbourhood are thanking their lucky stars after surviving hurricane Fabian without any major property damage whatsoever.

"The saying of the day up here is 'thank God we're middle of the road'," said one resident. "Because we don't have a boat and we don't have a house on South Shore. Our yards are so small we only have lawn furniture."

They're thankful for what little damage there is - roof gutters blown away - because it will force the Bermuda Housing Corporation which maintains the property to get on with some long overdue maintenance.

The low cost housing development was built in the 1970s and consists mainly of prefabricated homes built to withstand winds of up to 120 mph.

The residents did not lose their power supply or telephone lines because of underground cables.

But facilities at the nearby national stadium and Bernard Park suffered mangled stands and other damage. And a brief tour of CedarBridge Academy revealed some roof damage.

Family look on as house collapses

Three houses on the same Pembroke road had their roofs ripped off while one house was torn apart by the severe winds.

The winds whipped up at about 6 p.m. on Rec View Hill and residents feared for their lives as the storm took hold.

A small green cottage owned by the Darrell family was the worst hit - the roof was ripped off and the front of the house collapsed forward into the garden, exposing the contents of the house to the open air.

The bedroom furniture could clearly be seen from the roadside, but the family had tried to save some of their possessions and taken them from the room.

The family was so distraught by the destruction of their home, that they did not wish to speak about their ordeal - but no one was injured when the house fell apart.

Two other houses on the same road both lost parts of their roofs. The Haywards, who live in a pink three-storey house, lost the whole front corner of their roof.

"The wind just came out of nowhere," said Llewellyn Hayward. "It happened just before it got dark at around 6 p.m."

Mr. Hayward, who appeared calm and in control, said he simply moved to the lower floors when the roof blew off.

The third damaged home was a pink house further up on the hill where Linda Hollinsid lives. "The wind came up and my eaves slate blew off," she said.