yesterday as mountainous waves flooded houses, hotels and restaurants.

Millions of dollars of damage was caused as the ocean battered into properties due to the huge rise in tides on Monday night and yesterday.

Ferocious seas around Sam Hall's Bay, near Tucker's Town in Hamilton Parish, resulted in part of a two-storey house on South Road falling onto the beach after the garden collapsed.

The three American families occupying "Rock Merrell'' evacuated the house in the early hours of yesterday after walls on two floors and the garden slid onto the bay.

But at Rocky Bay Lane, Devonshire, a resident was not able to escape a raging wave.

The massive wave swept 60 feet over a sea wall and surged over a lawn before flooding the home of 88-year-old Dorothy Coltman.

Surge causes damage Mrs. Coltman was not in the house, but her grandson, Nicholas Comber, was moving furniture at 8 p.m. on Monday when the wave rushed in, causing seven inches of flooding. The wave dragged wood, rock and debris into the house and damaged the carpet and sofa.

Mr. Comber said: "We've never had water up that high before and this house has been here for 45 years.

"I was putting furniture aside and I looked out of the window and saw a big wave coming up the garden. I knew it wasn't big enough to swamp the house but it came over the lawn and swooshed into the house.

"I heard something coming through and I saw that the porch door had been blown open by a wave. It came into the dining room and swirled around into the living room.

"My initial thought was to find out where it had come in and to try to close it off. We have a very substantial sea wall and that's taken the brunt of the storm.'' The huge surge swept parrot fish and other species into residents' gardens along Rocky Bay.

Mrs. Coltman's neighbour, former Premier Dr. David Saul, said the sea level was 20 feet higher than normal and had surged more than he had ever seen.

"We've been here for 28 years and we've had it go through the hedge before, but this has knocked the hedge down and gone through to our lower slathouse,'' Dr. Saul said.

His wife, Christine, added: "This surge is the worst ever, though maybe the wind isn't so bad.'' The violent seas destroyed a balustrade and swept rubble and debris into a swimming pool owned by podiatrist Dr. Hywel Colley in A.P. Owen Road, Devonshire.

One wave surged over the badly damaged sea wall, washed over the pool and reached the house, but did not flow inside.

Dr. Colley said Hurricane Felix caused $120,000 of damage to his home in 1995.

Then, the sea wall was destroyed and the pool was extensively damaged.

Despite building a stronger sea wall, the waves were so powerful they shattered the balustrade and flowed into the garden.

At the Cloverdale condominiums next door, waves rushed over a sea barrier and washed rocks and debris up to the building.

Mickey's Beach Bistro, on the Elbow Beach shore, was completely destroyed for the second time in six years by huge waves.

Staff at Mickey's had secured the restaurant by 2 a.m., but by 4 a.m. the sea had smashed drift wood through the front and the swell had dragged refrigerators and freezers out onto the beach.

Wood from the seating platform was also scattered around the area.

One staffer said: "Everything's gone, but we will rebuild for next year.'' One wing of the Sonesta Beach Resort in Southampton was flooded and debris was strewn around the outside. The heavy waves also destroyed the adjoining Cross Bay Beach.

And Coconuts restaurant, at The Reefs Hotel in Southampton, suffered breakage to the reinforcement wall.

A refrigerator and two stoves were washed away when the beach bar and snack area of the Stonington Beach Hotel in Paget were destroyed by the pounding waves.

At the Mermaid Beach Hotel in Warwick, which is undergoing renovation, tourists watched as a refrigerator and an entire concrete bar were swept out to sea.

Residents were moved from cottages at the Pink Beach Club in Smith's Parish in anticipation floods, and staff managed to remove furniture from the apartments before the water surged in.

Flooding around John Smith's Bay in Smith's Parish caused Police to close South Road between Harrington Hundreds Road and Devil's Hole Hill. The beach itself was completely under water.

Hundreds of people flocked to Horseshoe Bay in Southampton yesterday to marvel at the size of the surf.

Janelle Hayward said: "I came out because I am concerned about the damage and I want to see it first hand. I walk the beach every week and it is truly amazing to see the difference.

"It's unreal and it shows you the power of nature. We were down at John Smith's Bay on Monday night and a wave washed across the car. It was a bit frightening but it was really exciting.

"What else is there to do in Bermuda? Last night hundreds of people were at John Smith's Bay to see the waves, they were higher than houses. I've never seen anything like it before.'' Kathleen Ford said: "This is simply natures way of cleaning.'' A veteran fisherman, who asked not to be named, said Gert was no match for Hurricane Emily, which hit Bermuda in September 1987.

"This is a big and strong storm. We are really lucky, but it's not an Emily!'' he said. "This would have been harder and longer than Emily if it had come right over us.

"This would not have been over in less than two hours. I'm so glad I'm not out fishing. But I've seen winter gales be a little more severe.'' The fisherman said he had never seen the southwest breakers between Pompano Beach and Church Bay in Southampton so treacherous.

"That spray out there looks like it's going a hundred feet in the air,'' he said. "They usually don't show that much, it's a pretty sight.'' The few local businesses that did open yesterday did a roaring business with many understood to have closed by mid afternoon, due to low supplies.

"Yes, I'm sure glad we opened,'' Warwick Gas station manager Dennis Martins said in between serving a steady flow of customers. "Business has been good.

"People have been buying hurricane-related and everyday items,'' he added.

"I'll tell you this, I had to get two extra deliveries of The Royal Gazette though. It's really been selling.'' A security guard at a South Shore hotel's beachfront said: "It's been rough.

But the guests have been coming down and I send them right back up, mainly Americans. They seem to want to get hurt then be able to sue.'' When asked what he would do if the weather turned for the worse with rain and thunderstorms, the man pointed to a golf cart and said: "If it gets hairy, I'll just hop in that and make for the high ground.'' Turning back to the damaged beach house, the man explained most of the features one saw on the beach around noon yesterday are normally buried under at least a foot or more of sand.