Powerful seas knocked out hundreds of feet of wall on the Causeway and devastated other coastal areas in St. George's.

Boats also took a beating from the storm surge and six-foot waves, several breaking loose from their moorings, including the visiting luxury yacht Warrior . Several local boats sank, others crashed onto rocks.

Work crews were able to clear the Causeway and reopened it to single-lane traffic by mid-morning after reinforcing it with sandbags.

But motorists still had to dodge crashing waves to get across the narrow road, the only link between St. George's and the rest of the Island.

Works Minister the Hon. Leonard Gibbons said only temporary repairs were being made while engineers worked on long-term solutions to ensure the Causeway could withstand another damaging storm. Damage estimates were about $20,000.

The Causeway wasn't the only devastated area in St. George's, which was the worst hit parish according to the Emergency Measures Organisation.

The Airport long-term parking lot was almost washed out by waves and dozens of cars were thrust together.

Police spokesman Sgt. Chris Wilcox said there was damage to most of the vehicles parked in the parking lot.

"I doubt that there was major damage but there was some damage to all the cars. The winds blew them sideways creating dents,'' Sgt. Wilcox said.

He added: "I am surprised people left them down there but they probably went on holiday before the hurricane was scheduled to come.'' The popular Club Med beach was ravaged by Felix.

Winds toppled a retaining wall and tore out dozens of wooden planks in a nearby boardwalk, sending them flying onto the beach.

Palm trees were uprooted and a two-foot deep pool was created in the road and a portion of the St. George's golf course. A foot of sand covered the concrete walkways and area by the beach house.

The wharf area of the town of St. George's was also badly hit. Restaurants were flooded, despite owners' efforts to flood-proof them with boarding and sealants.

Penno's Wharf suffered a large crack as well where part of the dock buckled.

Corporation of St. George's secretary Mr. Larry Jacobs said the pounding from high seas and swells undermined the face of the dock, causing the buckling which he did not think would interfere with the docking of cruise ships.

St. George's Club appeared to be the only building to suffer serious damage. A portion of the roof over the Margaret Rose restaurant blew off and it lost a small part of its veranda roof. An estimate of damage was not yet known.

Works Minister Mr. Gibbons said only temporary repairs were being made to the collapsed Causeway walls.

He expected the repairs to be completed by tomorrow.

Works and Engineering officials found that approximately 60 feet of wall in one area and between 120 and 130 feet in another area had crumbled. Acting principle structural engineer Mr. Paul Arnold said: "The structure of the Causeway is sound but there was extensive superficial damage on either side of it.'' He added workers would clear the debris from the Causeway and then form temporary barriers to "stop people from driving off the side of the road.

"Only one side of the road will be accessible. We need to make it safe and possibly put up speed signs.'' Mr. Arnold said the damage was caused by a combination of high tide, a storm surge and wind direction.

Visitor to the Island Mr. Ashleigh Douglas of Philadelphia, who was staying at the Grotto Bay Hotel was one of many people looking at the damage at the foot of the Causeway.

"Being in this hurricane is a real experience. This is something you can tell your grandchildren about,'' Mr. Douglas said.

The Swing Bridge and Longbird Bridge were also said to have sustained wave damage to their alignment. Officials did not know if the bridges would be open to marine traffic today. Mr. Gibbons noted damage to the Causeway was worse than during Hurricane Emily, because waves had not had as long to build up and Felix's winds affected Bermuda a lot longer.

"Seas had been building up for three days,'' he said, adding, "Obviously we will be looking at long-term solutions. And obviously one of the solutions is a different design of the wall. We haven't assessed things yet but it will be a major capital project.'' St. George's Mayor the Wor. Henry Hayward, who, for a while at least, lost his own yacht to Felix's fierce winds, said the wind direction was not in the East End's favour.

"Unfortunately the wind direction was such that the waterfront suffered the worst from the build-up of the seas; restaurants were flooded, also the area around Barry Road was washed out a bit and needs some repairs, however, there wasn't any serious damage. I imagine there will be several thousand dollars worth of repairs to do, but nowhere near any really high numbers because people I think were prepared -- we had a couple of day's notice.'' There was serious asphalt erosion on Barry Road due to high tides and the debris-scattered road would be closed off pending engineering analysis, Corporation secretary Mr. Jacobs added.

A nearby farm had its electric fencing ripped out and a herd of confused cows were left roaming the coastal road.

Mr. Hayward's yacht Cocklespur was among those that broke loose. It came off its moorings in front of his St. David's home on Monday afternoon but Smith Island neighbour Mr. Bobby Doe came to its rescue. Mr. Doe had been able to secure the yacht with an anchor much to the relief of Mr. Hayward, who only found out the good news the next morning.

The visiting black-hulled luxury yacht Warrior broke loose in the middle of the storm, calling for help on its VHF radio.

Seeing their plight, St. David's resident Mr. Peter Olander came to the visiting crew's assistance on his boat. He offered them his anchor and they were eventually able to get the yacht, which had broken free of two anchors in the middle of St. George's Harbour, off rocks near Smith Island.

Mr. Leroy Outerbridge's boat was another victim of the storm; Roy's Pride and Joy was no longer after she sank in Mullet Bay.

And Mr. Paul Cooper's colourful wooden barge the Fox was driven onto rocks near St. George's Boatyard. The saddened boat owner, inspecting the damage, said he did not think she was salvageable.

A few other yachts were beached and a couple of speed boats sunk but on the whole boaters said they fared much better than during Emily.

Club Med caretaker Dominique Danton believed most of the beach wall's destruction was caused by large wooden planks from a nearby boardwalk which were dislodged by the winds and crashing waves and sent flying onto the beach, knocking parts of the wall down.

About two dozen planks from the boardwalk lay broken on top of it and scattered on the beach along with other debris.

Palm trees were also toppled and a foot of sand covered the concrete arena and walkway, grassy area beside the toppled wall and bottom of the pool. A few curious sightseers -- among the several dozen who came to see the devastated beach -- even went wading.

"It's depressing,'' resident Mr. Chris Morley said. "It's the only proper beach in St. George's and it's a mess.'' Mr. George Richards said: "It'll be a while before the beach gets back together. The damage is worse than Emily -- this hurricane was here a lot longer.'' Resident Ms Dallas Bowers was equally upset at the mess the storm created at Club Med beach mess: "It's tragic, tragic,'' she said, "especially since they (Club Med) kept the beach in such good condition.'' The residents said they had seen the wall collapse before but "never this bad''.

As for the vacant Club Med hotel, caretaker Mr. Danton said it fared well, although there was some damage.

"One glass door on the tenth floor blew out and there were a few other minor breakages,'' he said.

Mr. Danton conceded it was going to be a major job to clear the road and golf course of the beach sand.

Another concern during the storm, he said, was the existence of a high-voltage transformer in the waterfront beach house. If the waves had forced their way in, a "big explosion'' was feared, Mr. Danton said.