A lucky South Shore man was seconds from getting crushed in his garden by a flying balcony rooftop ? torn from a nearby hotel by Hurricane Florence.

When taxi driver Stan Francis heard the sound of smaller debris from Surf Side Beach Club hitting his house yesterday morning during the height of the storm, he went outside to investigate.

But as he walked around the side of his property he heard a loud crash just a few metres away.

That was the sound of balcony roofs from two cliff top apartments at Surf Side getting ripped up, flipped backwards and thrown down a 20-foot drop ? straight into his garden.

"I was a very, very lucky man," admitted the 65-year-old yesterday.

"I was a split second from getting hit. I never even saw it come over."

Tidying up his garden yesterday afternoon after the hurricane had subsided, Mr. Francis and wife Lillian said they were just grateful nobody was injured, and that the large section of heavy roofing did not hit their house.

The chunk of balcony flew off just before 11 a.m. yesterday.

Surf Side manager Bryony Harvey, who saw the resort wrecked by Fabian three years ago, reckons a fierce tornado was probably to blame for the latest spate of damage.

"We were very lucky that nobody was injured," she said. "That's why we always tell the guests never to go outside in the storm."

Yesterday's damage ? which left chunks of Bermuda stone, drainpipes, wood and plant remains strewn across the site ? also included the porch roof of a sea-view cottage being lifted completely off, with half of it thrown to the back of the property.

Another cliff-side suite had a balcony whipped off amid hurricane strength winds. One piece of wood from it was tossed back about 100 metres.

The restaurant door was blown in and doors protecting windows were thrust into the swimming pool ? leaving Surf Side counting the cost as one of Hurricane Florence's biggest victims.

"It has to be a tornado because of its force and the sporadic nature of the damage," added the manager. "A Category One would not have done that.

"Luckily, most of the rest of the Island seems to have escaped."

She said walking out to see the damage was like "d?j? vu" after 2003, although the scale of destruction was not as widespread.

"It's not as bad. We could hardly walk around the property after Fabian: trees were down and there was debris everywhere. We had every roof damaged three years ago.

"This can be cleaned up in 24 hours and as soon as we get electricity we will be back to normal.

"At least we can go down the driveway today ? it's more like a mini-Fabian."

Mrs. Harvey, meanwhile, praised guests for their "marvellous" attitude.

"They realised the seriousness of it and stayed in.

"Now we have let them loose and they are having fun with post-hurricane drinks by the pool."

Guest Nicola Castree was staying underneath one of the rooms that lost its balcony roof and flipped into Mr. Francis' garden.

"It was very noisy," said the 27-year-old from northern England. "There were bits of debris coming down and there was a big loud bang."

She said she felt jinxed because the last time she came to Bermuda, about 12 years ago, Hurricane Felix struck the Island.

Fellow guests Vera and Alan Richardson, here from the UK for their son's wedding last Saturday, said they lost power at 5 a.m. yesterday.

"It was very noisy and we couldn't see anything outside," said Mrs. Richardson, 64, describing a normally picturesque view.

"You couldn't tell the difference between the sea, the rain and the sky. It was just grey.

"The palm trees were like rubber, bending one way and then the next."

Her son's reception was held at Surf Side in sunnier conditions and the couple are now honeymooning at Cambridge Beaches.

"It's certainly been a wedding to remember," she added.