The Island awoke to a seemingly deserted hush this morning. A steady breeze out of the southeast delivered the occasional gust — the only hint of the biggest storm of any recent Atlantic hurricane season bearing down on the Island.

A Paget resident reported “swells, but nothing particularly big at the moment” off Elbow Beach as of 10am — and a Bailey’s Bay resident with an amateur weather station said conditions were “very calm”: a gentle wind from the east at four miles per hour, and a temperature of 78F.

Hamilton stood mostly still, with sporadic traffic, while a Town Hill, St George’s resident said at about 10am that his residence in the shelter of the hill was still and all his windows were open.

Tropical Storm force winds, defined as 39 to 72mph, were predicted by the Bermuda Weather Service to appear in Bermuda’s vicinity by late this morning.

Conditions began to deteriorate rapidly by about 2pm. Heavy, driving rain swept in, while heavy swells — especially off the South Shore — flooded the coastline. Another leeward resident in St George’s — this time in Convict Bay — told The Royal Gazette at 4.30pm that despite rain, high winds and a choppy harbour, the Old Town showed “nothing too bad yet”.

Also sheltered in Bailey’s Bay, the weather hobbyist reported a half-inch of rainfall, with a gust of 40mph and winds averaging 17mph from the east.

Elsewhere, the true brunt of Gonzalo was striking.

At 6pm, a Smith’s resident said that the force of the approaching weather had “palm trees bending backwards and debris flying”.

“In the last couple of hours, swell under the dark grey sky off the South Shore has increased significantly,” he added.

A Devonshire Bay resident reported high winds driving the storm surge up into the main road from South Road.

Also at 6pm, a Flatts resident reported: “Waves breaking over the Aquarium here — we’re watching it and it’s quite spectacular although visibility is going as the sky gets greyer. More brownouts, but we still have power.”

Shortly thereafter, from the Harrington Sound area, a resident wrote in: “Power went out in Hamilton Parish just after 6pm. Some very powerful wind gusts are now blasting in from the south east.”

Here in Hamilton, with hurricane conditions now in effect, fierce winds have turned the streets into wind tunnels.

We estimate that the centre of the storm is, as of 6.30pm, due at roughly 9pm if Gonzalo maintains its current speed.