HAMILTON, Bermuda, (6 Sep 2003) -- Four people were missing and feared dead, power was out in 25,000 homes, roofs were missing from buildings and many roads were impassable in Bermuda on Saturday after Hurricane Fabian's fierce assault. Fabian, the most powerful storm to hit the mid-Atlantic British colony in 50 years, swept across on Friday, lashing the island with winds of up to 120 mph, ripping off roofs, destroying beachside tourist restaurants, felling trees and power lines and causing flooding in some areas. Bermuda Premier Alex Scott said four people, including two police officers, were missing after two cars plunged into turbulent seas off the Causeway, a highway that links to the main island to the airport, on Friday afternoon. Rescue workers recovered the two cars but there was no sign of the missing people. Members of the island's part-time army, the Bermuda Regiment, began unblocking roads strewn with trees on the 22-square-mile island, an off-shore financial center and tourist playground of 62,000 residents. "There's a substantial amount of road clearing to do," said Police Commissioner Jonathan Smith said. Officials at the Bermuda electricity company said 25,000 out of the island's 32,000 homes and businesses were without power. There was no official estimate yet of damage to property, but many homes had damaged roofs or were flooded. A beachside cottage vacation complex, the Ariel Sands, that is part-owned by actor Michael Douglas, was badly damaged, with roofs ripped off some 20 small buildings, witnesses said. The island's largest hotel, the Fairmont Southampton, closed for two weeks for repairs. Government spokesman John Burchall said some people were using the five emergency shelters set up across the island. | | "We are coping and attempting to come to terms with the extent of the damage but it would be premature to assess the extent," Burchall said. If the damage to buildings was not even worse it appeared partly because most buildings on the island are made of concrete and Bermuda also has building codes to ensure new structures can withstand storms. But the storm was still a frightening experience, said Canadian tourist Sonya Wachsberg of Toronto. "It was terrifying," she said. "I found it very scary." The airport, closed since Thursday, was reopening on Saturday afternoon. Fabian hit Bermuda, which lies about 560 miles east of South Carolina, as a Category 3 storm on the five-point Saffir-Simpson scale of hurricane intensity, meaning a storm that can be expected to fell trees and damage homes. It was the most powerful storm of this Atlantic hurricane season and the strongest to hit Bermuda since Hurricane Edna hit in September 1953 with 120 mph winds. The island, which draws tourists because of its mild climate, golf and beaches, is also an important offshore insurance center and home to registered offices of some 12,500 international companies. Fabian had moved well away on Saturday and was clipping along in the Atlantic headed northeast at around 22 mph with maximum winds of near 110 mph. The U.S. National Hurricane Center (news - web sites) said that at 11 a.m. EDT the storm's center was located near latitude 36.5 north, longitude 61.5 west or about 835 miles southwest of Cape Race Newfoundland. |
