For the few Bermuda residents living in wooden houses, battling the ferocious winds of Hurricane Fabian last month was a frightening experience. Most of the Island's wooden homes survived the devastating conditions, though St. George's resident Yvette Saunders and her family were not so lucky as her house was badly damaged by the winds and has since been torn down. She shared her experience with Lifestyle Reporter Lawrence Trott.

A voice told Yvette Saunders not to stay in her house on September 5 - and luckily she listened.

For when she went back to see the wooden house on Cut Road that was home for 21 years, there wasn't much left after Hurricane Fabian's destructive visit four weeks ago today.

"I'm thankful nobody got hurt and we left when we did," said Ms. Saunders who lived in the house with her two daughters.

"I left at 10 o'clock in the morning, a voice was saying `not this time, just take what you can for now and just go'. When I went back the next day and saw what happened, if we had been there, somebody would have got seriously hurt."

She managed to collect a few items and was taken by her brother-in-law to her sister's house in St. David's. The two-bedroom house was still intact when the family left but some time later in the day she heard that the house had been badly hit.

"They called me later that afternoon and told me," she explained. "I had been there 21 years but my parents were there before that, about ten years."

Ms. Saunders is proud to say she survived Hurricane Emily in 1987, but Fabian was packing a more powerful punch and she followed her instincts and vacated.

"When we came out (from Emily) we gave thanks because nothing happened to the house," said the mother of four. "I think we just lost electricity for about an hour.

"We withstood many storms but not this time. We took some clothing and got a couple of TVs out but Lord knows if they work. I put them down at my church."

There were few other cars on the road during the drive to St. David's as the high winds had debris flying all over the place.

"My brother-in-law managed to get back to St. George's so I'm thankful about that. That's all I was worrying about, since he did a good deed for us, bringing us over here."

The house, owned by Gladwin (Doc) Hall, was over 100 years old and was a popular attraction for horse and buggy drivers when taking tourists on tours of the old town.

"They would come by every day and the driver would say `this house is over 100 years old and how it stood many a storm'," said Ms. Saunders. "It was every day and I could hear when they came."

The house afforded a lovely view of the St. George's harbour and cruise ships entering and leaving the town channel passed just yards away.

"I miss the cruise ships, we used to stand on the back steps and wave and shout out `good morning'," she recalled.

`And when they were leaving we used to wave and say bye. No matter how many times the cruise ship came in the channel my grandson and I would stand on the back or to the window and wave."

The back of the house was stone but nothing remains of the structure now as the rest of the house has since been torn down.

"When I went there after church one Sunday the back wall was still standing, but now it is all down," she explained.

Gone with it are two decades of memories. The family is now picking up the pieces and getting their lives back to normal.

"My oldest sister had an extra bedroom and we're here with her," she explained. "We're just thankful.

"As I was walking home the night before, it was like the Lord was saying `Yvette, when you get home the first thing you do is shut off the gas' so before I went in the house I shut off the gas. I last thing I did when I left was shut off the electricity.

"It was like the Lord was talking to me the whole time. I kept hearing `not this time!'."

Ms Saunders is grateful to her family, neighbours and fellow church members for the support they offered during the ordeal.

"Dean Foggo came by and was there for the longest while as well as the Bermuda Regiment who cordoned the house off. I'm thankful to them," she stated.

"Neighbours Bernie Burgess and his wife Sheila were also a great help. People were giving words of encouragement, asking if we had a place to stay."

Mrs. Saunder's home apart, most of the Island's few wooden structures came through the hurricane virtually unscathed.

Leo Jordan and his family live in a wooden house off Harbour Road in Paget which stood up well to the winds.

"I slept through it like a baby, no problems at all," said Mr. Jordan. "I had some shutters that I got a while ago that didn't fit perfect but I put them on and put some wood over them and screwed them on.

"I'm also in a very sheltered location and that makes a difference. If I was up on a hill somewhere I may have been less fortunate."

The experience of Fabian hasn't changed Mr. Jordan's opinion of living in a wooden house.

"I'm quite happy to live in one, it's still a great little house," said Mr. Jordan who has lived in the house for ten years. The house was built in the 1930s.

Somerset resident Renee Heyliger regrets not remaining in her wooden house like she did when Emily hit 16 years ago. Fortunately her house did not suffer any damage, but the house she went to in Warwick did.

"A window came out of the house and the roof blew off," she revealed. "I might as well have stayed home, exactly. I left because everybody else was worried about my house."

"I was there during Emily and actually took a nap. A tree had fallen against my front door but the house itself was fine."

Residents had more time to prepare for Fabian and those living in more vulnerable areas such as waterfront properties on the south shore were advised to evacuate. "I just wanted to be in my house, and kept thinking `I should be home, I should be home' the whole time I was there (in Warwick)," said Ms Heyliger. "But people advised me to go, they didn't trust my house. But I trusted my house."

Her faith in her house was validated when she returned the next day and saw that no damage had been done. Ms Heyliger's neighbour, Eileen Lewis, who also lives in a wooden house, decided to stay in her house during the hurricane. Her house also escaped damage.

"There is another house behind us that is wooden but is plastered and the plaster came off," Ms Heyliger revealed. The wooden structure was undamaged.

Even with the threat of hurricanes, Ms Heyliger has no intention of giving up her wooden house.

"If I could add onto my house with wood I would!" she assured.