Issues of The Royal Gazette have been in great demand this week as residents grab extra copies for souvenirs following Hurricane Fabian.

Saturday's Hurricane Edition, which wasn't printed until 4 p.m., sold out completely six hours later, even though many outlets did not open for business because of damage done by Hurricane Fabian.

Subsequent issues this week have also sold out, The Royal Gazette circulation manager DelMonte Davis revealed.

The boom in sales followed the trend in 1987 when issues immediately after Hurricane Emily also sold out, forcing The Royal Gazette to print a supplement, as was also done yesterday, six days after the hurricane. At 8.30 a.m. all 28,000 copies of the supplement had sold out, with the newspaper now reprinting next Tuesday.

"With Fabian we sold out virtually everything after trying to determine who was open," said Mr. Davis who said that some 1,860 copies alone were sold from The Royal Gazette offices on Saturday evening within hours as word quickly spread that a paper had been published.

With residents unable to see images on television because power was out, the daily newspaper was the only source for such coverage.

"People were buying not just one copy but two, three, ten copies," revealed the circulation manager.

"One of our van drivers sold 300 copies on Front Street in one hour. This is the main source of comprehensive information for the community, that's the role that we play.

"I'm pleased with our staff who hung in there. We know that people on the Island want this news and we have to get it to them. We make certain, no matter what, that we get the papers out and we did that."

The last time a special supplement was printed was for the terrorists attacks on September 11.