Coast suffered its worst winter storm of the century.

Fewer than half a dozen flights were made in and out of the Airport as New York, Boston and Atlanta were virtually paralysed.

And while Americans were reeling from the storm Bermuda was also feeling the effects of high winds on Saturday night.

Several neighbourhoods were blacked out as the winds, gusting to 47 knots, blew electrical cables down and sank at least one fishing boat.

At the Airport all flights into and from New York, Boston and Atlanta were cancelled on Saturday as hurricane-force winds and three feet of snow covered the East Coast. See story on Page 6.

Hundreds of flights from the US were stopped and thousands of passengers stranded as officials waited for the weather to improve.

Only Air Canada and British Airways reported being able to operate flights normally fom Bermuda to Canada and the United Kingdom.

Flights by American Airlines, Continental, Delta, USAir, United and Northwestern to Kennedy, La Guardia, and Newark airports in New York and to Boston were cut.

The Delta flight to Atlanta was cancelled Saturday but resumed yesterday. All airlines said they hoped planes would be running as scheduled today, but there will be a backlog of passengers stretching over the next couple of days.

Despite sustained winds of 34 knots and gusts recorded at 47 knots, there was little major damage in Bermuda.

A fishing boat belonging to Mr. Jimmy Pitcher sank in The Crawl, close to the Lagoon Park, off Ireland Island South, and smaller boats also went under during Saturday afternoon.

Firefighters stood by to help Mr. Pitcher but he could not raise the 34-foot boat enough for them to pump the water out.

A fire brigade spokesman said: "We went along to see if we could help but it was totally submerged. We will go back if he can raise its gunwales out of the water.'' Mr. Pitcher could not be reached for comment.

Forecasters at the Naval Oceanography Command Facility issued a small craft warning yesterday which will remain in force until 9 p.m. today. The gale watch on Saturday was cancelled on Sunday morning.

No other problems were reported by Harbour Radio and there was little damage apart from a number of electricity black-outs throughout the Island.

Belco public relations officer Ms Linda Smith said power was off for three hours when a line went down in Whaling Hill, Southampton.

Homes went without power for two hours in the Palmetto Road area of Devonshire, when a tree blew across a line. And residents living near Devil's Hole lost electricity for an hour when another line was blown down.

Belco engineers worked quickly to restore the power within hours at all the locations around the Island.