Hurricane Gonzalo batters Bermuda

Hurricane Gonzalo hit Bermuda on Friday, downing trees and cutting power to large numbers of residents.

The hurricane was a Category 2 storm on the Saffir-Simpson scale, with wind speeds of 110 miles per hour.

Catastrophe modelling firm AIR Worldwide said that when the eye of the storm came onshore on Friday, Gonzalo was a Category 3 storm, but weakened to a Category 2 by the time the eye passed over the centre of the island.

AIR said Gonzalo’s wind speeds were lower than those of Hurricane Fabian, which hit Bermuda in 2003, causing $300m (£186m) of insured losses.

The modelling firm said buildings on Bermuda are designed to withstand sustained wind speeds of up to 110mph and gusts of up to 150mph.

AIR principal scientist Scott Stransky said: “Damage may also have been mitigated by the very fact that the very large – and very calm – eye of Gonzalo passed over Bermuda, which reduced the total number of hours of significant winds. Nevertheless, roof damage – ranging from a few blown-off tiles to, in some cases, loss of nearly the entire roof – is fairly widespread.”