Some 2,500 homes were left without power yesterday as Bermuda was battered with winds gusting up to 70 knots.

Belco technicians were working through the early hours and were expected to be on call throughout last night in a bid to get electricity back on as soon as possible.

Last night, Belco reported that all homes that had lost power yesterday had been re-connected throughout the day, the latest outage being repaired at about 6 p.m.

However, with high winds continuing last night, the utility company's spokeswoman Robin Sidders said the technicians would be on standby in preparation of more disruptions.

Among the problems caused by the winter storm were power lines that had been brought down and poles that were leaning into the road, resulting in about six circuits going off.

Areas worst hit, she said, were the central parishes, the West End and Warwick.

The storm also brought problems for some boat-owners, with a number of boats being pulled away from their moorings by the strong gusts.

The storm also brought a record-low temperature of 49 degrees - a dramatic change from February 1 - which had seen a record high of 76.

Bermuda Weather Service meteorologist James Morrison said January had been unusually settled and the storm was a return to more typical winter weather.

He said: "The strength of the wind was normal but it had a little bit more kick in it. We had thunderstorm gusts of 62 knots while Harbour Radio reported 70 knot gusts."

However rainfall was minimal with just 0.2 inches landing during the storm which picked up hurricane-strength gusts before heading out to the Atlantic last night.

Harbour Radio had to alert more than half a dozen owners to loose boats including the 47-foot pleasure craft Consort, owned by Jessie James Cruises, while marine police were dispatched to a similar number of incidents.

Consort co-owner Jimmy O'Connor said the boat had broken free at White's island but had then actually docked itself.

He said the boat would be examined for insurance purposes but damage seemed limited to a couple of scratches.

He said: "It's nothing very serious. We were very, very lucky."