Residents in St. George's heaved a sigh of relief as the worst of Hurricane Gert passed, leaving it virtually unscathed.

The parish had been braced to face the worst of the blast, but suffered less damage from swell and winds than many other areas.

Worst hit in the east was St. David's where a mile of road running parallel to Clearwater Beach completely disappeared under tons of rocks, trees and rubble swept on shore by the huge swell.

More than a dozen trees had uprooted on the front and the play park to the rear turned into a lake as the waves swept a hundred feet back from the shore.

Parts of the coastal Barry Road were swept away and St. Catherine's Beach was turned into a small four-feet deep lake, blocking access to Fort St.

Catherine.

The boardwalk next to the beach had also broken up and blocks of wood lay on the grass verge 100 feet away. The concrete wall was flattened and several feet of sand covered the concrete flooring. Sea-facing doors to the old Club Med beach hut had been battered by the force of waves and filled with sand and drift wood.

Local yacht El Gato Gordo , belonging to Horace Whitehead, broke its moorings in St. George's Harbour and was swept in-land through the foundations of the old bridge to crash into the Swing Bridge.

In St. George's, at lunchtime when the hurricane was supposed to be closest to the Island, the streets were deserted despite the harbour appearing calm.

Most businesses had boarded up their fronts and sandbags lined the entrances to shops and restaurants on Water Street.

Cars were parked in the Old Town centre undamaged, but several mopeds had fallen on their sides.

Two businesses, however, decided to brave the storm and open as normal to serve the people of St. George's.

Robert Oatley, owner of the Godet and Young hardware store, opened up shop at 7.45 a.m.

On Sunday, he saw 500 customers come in through his doors -- more than double the number on a normal Saturday -- as they rushed to buy their hurricane supplies.

Mr. Oatley said: "We sold out of those little camp stoves and ran out of batteries and had to get more in.'' Yesterday the shop was also inundated with customers. More than 100 had visited by lunchtime, desperate to find a shop that was open.

Reid's Restaurant was another lifesaver for many of the Bermudian emergency workers who were out clearing roads and repairing services from early in the morning.

Owner Sheila Reid said: "I got up this morning at 5.30 a.m. and looked out and saw it wasn't that bad. So I thought somebody has to serve all the people who need coffee and a paper. And today everybody's hungry.'' Mrs. Reid, who has been working in the shop since she married 43 years ago, opened shop herself at 7.30 a.m. and was run off her feet.

Mrs. Reid, wearing a T-shirt saying `God will take care of you', said: "Mostly it has been coffee and papers. But we've been selling lots of hamburgers, fish and milkshakes. There have been families coming in for breakfast who have had no electricity to get some hot food. We have been really busy all day. I am exhausted and it is only lunch time.'' In the restaurant Arthur Lasalle, of Repairs and Engineering, was taking a break. He had been clearing roads since the early hours of the morning.

He said St. George's did not seem as badly affected as other areas.

"We started preparing yesterday at noon, and we have hardly stopped,'' said Mr. Lasalle.

"But this is not as bad as (Hurricane) Felix. I don't know how long we will have to work today, but we have to wait for the okay to stop.'' In St. David's, dozens of hurricane watchers and beach combers descended on Clearwater Beach to see the devastation caused by the sea surge.

For a mile most of the road was buried, with only occasional yellow lines appearing beneath the debris which included tarmac, seaweed and plastics.

As gale-force winds blew, families parked their cars and picked their way along the coast amazed at the extent of the wreckage.

But the devastation stopped short of the airport perimeter, and lights on the approach to the runway appeared to be intact.