Storms causes damage, disruption and power cuts

Torrential rain and thunderstorms lashed Bermuda yesterday leaving a trail of destruction in their wake.

A lightening strike knocked out the power to more than 1,300 homes in Southampton and Warwick.

While a utility pole on Camp Hill Road was also knocked down in the strong winds causing traffic disruption.

Yesterday was also the coolest August 15 since records began according to the Bermuda Weather Service. The day’s lowest temperature of 21.6C beat the previous low of 22.2C, which was recorded in 1949. More than an inch and a half of rain fell between 7am and 12pm yesterday, with some reports of localized flooding across the island.

The downpour was on a par with the bad weather that hit the island on Non Mariners Day earlier this month. And Bermuda Weather Service’s deputy director, James Dodgson said yesterday’s storms were not unusual for this time of year.

He added: “It looks like the worst of the thunder storms have now passed, but this kind of weather is to be expected for this time of year.

“The general trend over the next couple of days seems to be improving.”

Belco crews worked through the morning to restore power and by just before 2pm each affected home had electricity again.

A thunderstorm advisory as well as a small craft warning was in force for the whole of yesterday,

But according to the forecast there is still a chance of more rain today, but the weekend will be a mix of sun and clouds. 

2:15pm - All repair work was completed and service restored to all customers at approximately 1:40 PM. We thank customers for their patience, as our crews worked to complete the job safely and as quickly as possible.

10:55am - The BELCO crews working on restoration need to rebuild a couple of spans of overhead line. This will take the majority of the day, as crews cannot work safely while lightning is ongoing. As mentioned earlier, the remaining 124 customers will have power restored when all work is complete.

10:15am – 124 customers without power until all repairs completed; will notify you when restoration is complete

10:10am – 594 customers remain without power; retoration work is ongoing

9am - We have crews out and working on the outage, as we  had a report of lines down and approximately 1.300 customers without power.  Cause appears to be lightning strike.