Downpours after a night of thunder brought flooding, road closures and outages around the Island, as high tides coincided with a rise in sea levels.

Mills Creek, a perennial problem spot, was so badly awash that area businesses may chip in to raise the road themselves, according to Toby Kempe, president of Bermuda Forwarders.

“When the tide went out, so did the water — but this morning that water was inside our front gate,” Mr Kempe said. “A couple of cars are still stuck in it.”

A survey will go ahead in coming weeks to determine the cost of elevating the flood-prone road, he said.

Mills Creek was one flood among several, as morning traffic came to a standstill in many locations.

Highway teams from Public Works were kept busy tackling drainage problems and flooding around the Island.

Several power outages during recent bad weather included Government House, which took a hit from lightning — and 20 customers in the Belmont area were without power in the morning.

The Island took a dousing, with nearly two inches of rain falling from 2am to 10.15am. According to the Bermuda Weather Service, the potential for flooding was exacerbated by a warm-water eddy in the Atlantic, which has raised the sea surface by close to a foot.

Yesterday, Keith Rowntree of the Cemetery Road business TreeCon said water on the main road was about two-and-a-half feet deep.

“The puddle goes all the way across to the entrance of the Belco parking lot — cars are backed up on both sides and practically scraping the Belco wall to get by,” Mr Rowntree said.

“We’ve been asking Works and Engineering for years to take care of it. It’s only in that one spot and it always happens there.”

Nearby resident Charles Corbin had a happier story: his property got hit by Pembroke Canal a few years ago, but Belco has remedied the situation — and the work is still holding up.

“Belco did some extensive remedial work and there has been no problem since,” he said.

A trough passing to Bermuda’s east brought more unsettled weather, which is expected to clear somewhat by this weekend.