Police were closing off the Causeway at about 10.40am today, pushed back from the planned 10am closing.

The decision to close the bridge, which was announced yesterday after a meeting of the Emergency Measures Organisation, reflects a combination of factors — in particular, the direction of today’s winds.

Explaining the reasoning behind the closure, Police Commissioner Michael DeSilva noted that the south-easterly winds, which the Bermuda Weather Service predicts will bring gale force gusts this morning, would make the bridge too risky to cross.

Gale force winds are 52 to 104mph, or 45 to 90 knots.

Despite this morning’s calm, bursts of stronger wind were occasionally making themselves felt.

There had been a long-standing perception in recent years that the Causeway would automatically be closed off once exposed to winds of 50 knots, or just under 60mph. In recent meetings, Mr DeSilva dispelled that notion, saying it depended on a variety of circumstances.

However, he said Gonzalo’s wind directions, in tandem with the significant storm surge likely near the 5pm high tide, seemed to be “lining up perfectly, as if a perfect storm”.

“Put all these factors together and it mandates that, out of an abundance of caution, we should take the pre-emptive step of closing the causeway at 10am,” the Commissioner. “Once the Causeway closes, we can’t tell you what time it will open up.”

A careful assessment of the bridge would have to be carried out after the storm before the Causeway would reopen, he said.

Mr DeSilva added that, in the eyes of police, the closing of the bridge marked the point at which no one should be out on Bermuda’s roads. Authorities want the roads clear for police and the Bermuda Regiment — and the Island remains littered with ample debris left over from last weekend’s Tropical Storm Fay.

BWS director Kimberley Zuill yesterday cautioned that unsteady trees and could easily become dangerous as winds build today.

“What would sway in a 30 knot wind will sway in less,” she said.

Gonzalo is still on track to hit the Island at about 7pm. The BWS describes the impact as being within 30 miles, or directly over Bermuda.