Heavy rain and strong winds battered the country yesterday as a strong low-pressure system passed over the island.

The Bermuda Weather Service said that after heavy rain yesterday morning, “a rather violent gale” brought storm-force gusts during the late afternoon.

Both a gale warning and small-craft warning were in effect.

The BWS recorded 1.86 inches of rain between 2am and 2pm yesterday and sustained 40mph winds shortly after 4pm, along with gusts reaching 56mph.

Michelle Pitcher, the director of the BWS, said: “It was windy this morning, then the winds dropped to near ten knots at about noon as the actual centre of the low passed very near our sensors, then gales arrived on the back side of the exiting low.

“In the winter, these systems can be quite wet, especially around the centre as the rain and showers wrap around the entire low centre.

“What we normally see is the centre of the low passing to the distant north instead, which only brings the middle or end of the cold front through our area.”

Ms Pitcher said that on Wednesday night, the island was in the warm front, which transitioned to a “triple point”, where warm front and a cold front met an occluded front, a combination of warm and cold frontal boundaries.

“In this case, it means lots of precipitation and gales,” she said. “It is worth noting that a different low-pressure system passing overhead can give us completely different conditions.

“Every system is unique and that is a main part of the interesting challenges that they pose to us.”

The bad weather also presented challenges for Belco, with residents encountering scattered outages, the largest of which impacted more than 500 people in and around Flatts.

Shelly Leman, Belco managing director of transmission, distribution and retail, said: “The Bermuda Weather Service has forecast the potential for gale force winds this afternoon into this evening with wind gusts to 55 knots expected.

“These high winds are causing sporadic outages and Belco crews are responding to these outages as they occur.

“Belco crews will continue to respond to any weather-related outages as they occur and restore power to customers as quickly and safely as possible.”

The Ministry of Transport suspended ferry services at 5.30pm but service is expected to resume this morning.