Island rest homes for senior citizens have so far survived Fabian and its aftermath reasonably well, all things considered.

But at least one facility - Devonshire Parish Rest Home in the badly hit Loyal Hill area - is appealing to the public for help.

The facility is home to ten residents - all of whom made it comfortably through Friday night. Nurse administrator Jennifer Hurns said that roof damage was discovered last night over a vacant room. The extent of the damage is yet to be assessed. Ms Hurns said that the facility has been without power since Friday and is getting by on a generator which was donated yesterday, and no hot running water.

Yesterday it had to rely on Pembroke Rest Home to get its laundry done.

Ms Hurns said that the rest home could use another generator or two as well as some flashlights, size D batteries and volunteer help to put a tarpaulin up on the roof. "If we hadn't got the help we needed today, we would have asked the families to start taking them (clients) back because it was reaching a crisis point," she added.

BTC has been asked to make restoring their phone service a priority but with thousands of other lines out of service the utility cannot make any promises. Meanwhile, Ms Hurns said she's grateful for the help received so far and feels blessed that there have been "no lives lost" and no "real, real disasters".

In most other rest homes electricity was restored within relatively short order, and those rest homes that needed generators or any other essentials only had to ask. Pembroke Parish Rest Home, home to 21 elderly people, didn't ask but was nonetheless a surprise recipient of an outpouring of generosity from community minded individuals.

"Someone told Power 95 that windows were broken and we had no food and water and our windows were broken and we needed tarpaulin," said Flora Trott, the facility's administrator.

The report turned out not to be true, but several people answered the call with offers of assistance. "People just kept on coming with food, cake and whatever. Even a nurse showed up."

The physical plant had suffered no damage whatsoever and residents were in high spirits throughout the tempest, she added.

But a chronic staff shortage was exacerbated by hardship conditions imposed by hurricane Fabian - two members of staff couldn't make the drive into Pembroke and a third couldn't leave her children at home. Regular staff also did extra time to help make up the shortfall.

Electricity went off shortly after midday on Friday and was restored on Saturday evening.

"The residents were strong. From about 2 p.m. (Friday) until suppertime we had a sing-along with devotions and prayer and the residents gave testimonies and they had their supper, we gave them their bath and went to bed. So we were not even sure when the storm ended."

"In general most of the rest homes survived very well," said Corita Saunders, the Island's co-ordinator for seniors. "Quite a few of the rest homes do have generators so they had power, and they were able to help other homes with laundry service. Even the homes in St. Davids and St. Georges which I was worried about did quite well."