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 The eye of the strongest storm to sweep the subtropical British
territory in a decade was 200 miles northeast of the island by early
Saturday morning after making landfall the night before, the U.S.
National Hurricane Center in Miami said.
Gonzalo whipped the island with maximum sustained winds of around
110 miles per hour (175 kph), forecasters said, with hurricane force
winds extending out some 45 miles (72 km) from the eye.
Damage from the storm was believed to be widespread in Bermuda, a
tourist destination and affluent insurance industry hub, but
authorities were waiting for daylight to assess the full extent of
it, a spokeswoman for the Emergency Measures Organization said early
on Saturday.
The Bermuda Electric Light Co. told customers, some 31,200 of whom
were without power by early Saturday morning, not to approach downed
wires when inspecting damage in the morning.
The Royal Gazette newspaper reported that fallen trees had sectioned
off large sections of the island's streets.
Instruments at the Bermuda Radio Maritime Operations Center in St.
Georges and at the Bermuda International Airport were knocked
offline by the storm and medical facilities have also been damaged,
the Hurricane Center reported.
Gonzalo roared ashore just five days after Tropical Storm Fay hit,
serving a one-two punch to the island, which lies about 640 miles
(1,030 km) east of North Carolina.
Gonzalo peaked on Thursday as a Category 4 hurricane, the first in
the Atlantic since 2011, before weakening. It was expected to
continue weakening into the weekend as it moved northward over
cooler waters.
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The storm was traveling at about 25 miles per hour and picking up
speed as it weakened in strength, the Hurricane Center said.
It is expected to pass just to the southeast of Newfoundland on
Sunday, the Hurricane Center said, adding that Canadian weather
officials have issued a tropical storm watch from Arnold's Cove to
Chapel's Cove.
Jeff Masters, a hurricane expert with private forecaster Weather
Underground, said Bermuda was among the best equipped places in the
Atlantic for weathering such storms, in part because of strict
building codes.
Hurricane Fabian, which pummeled the island in 2003 and caused $300
million in damage, was a Category 3 storm, he said.
Earlier, Gonzalo wrought destruction in the Caribbean, tearing off
roofs in Antigua, and killing an elderly sailor and damaging some
three dozen vessels in St. Maarten.
(Writing by Curtis Skinner; editing by Jane Baird)
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