HAMILTON, Bermuda — Crews cleared away downed trees and power lines Saturday after Hurricane Gonzalo battered this tiny, wealthy British territory for several hours but caused no deaths or serious injuries.
The storm’s center crossed over Bermuda late Friday, and Gonzalo quickly moved northward over the Atlantic on a track that could take it just off the shore of Newfoundland in Canada.
About 20,000 homes in Bermuda were without power in the afternoon, but Premier Michael Dunkley said cleanup efforts were going smoothly. He said the U.S., Britain and other nations have offered assistance.
“All hands are on deck,” he tweeted. “Bermuda is roaring back!”
Gonzalo approached Bermuda as a Category 3 storm then weakened to Category 2 strength before coming ashore with sustained winds of 110 mph. Even after it began to move away, its fierce winds battered the island for hours.
Maria Frith, who owns Grape Bay Cottages on Bermuda’s south coast, said in a phone interview that the hurricane woke her up before dawn when it tore the patio roof off her house.
“To be perfectly honest with you, I was terrified, partly because of the noise,” she said. “It was really scary.”
Some Bermudians woke up to toppled concrete walls, uprooted palm trees and boats run aground. Gonzalo ripped part of the roof off the island’s legislature, the House of Assembly, as well as the roof of an exhibit at the Bermuda Aquarium, Museum & Zoo.
No catastrophic damage was reported on Bermuda, which has one of the highest per-capita incomes in the world and is known for strict building codes meant to ensure homes can withstand sustained winds of at least 110 mph.
The island was recovering from last weekend’s blast from Tropical Storm Fay, which also damaged homes and toppled power lines.
“To be struck twice by two different cyclones is unusual, to say the least,” said Max Mayfield, a former director of the U.S. National Hurricane Center in Miami.
Meanwhile, Hurricane Ana was carving a path south of Hawaii, producing high waves, strong winds and heavy rains.
The center of the storm was about 215 miles southwest of the Big Island and about 150 miles from Honolulu, the National Weather Service said. There was little chance for hurricane conditions on the islands, but a tropical storm watch remained in effect throughout the archipelago.
The heaviest rains were falling along the southeast slopes of Mauna Loa, in the Puna district — which was hit hard recently by Tropical Storm Iselle — and the Kau district on the southeast side of the island.
