worst hurricane to hit Bermuda in recent times -- was "nothing'' compared to what he experienced early yesterday.

"We knew the dangers but we decided to stay,'' University of Miami student Mr. Jeremy Whittle said.

But he admitted he and his friends began to wish they had fled north when Andrew's eye passed across the Miami area at about 5 a.m., packing gusts up to 165 mph.

He said he began feeling "pretty scared'' when the wind howled harder and harder and he heard glass smashing all around him.

"We kept thinking it was the windows in our apartment breaking, but it was the neighbour's,'' he said. "I guess a tree had fallen on them.

"It was crazy. Things were flying through the wind and glass was smashing everywhere.'' However, the house Mr. Whittle was in managed to hold onto its roof and windows.

Mr. Whittle, who spoke to The Royal Gazette at about 10 a.m. yesterday from a friend's apartment in the Miami suburb of Coral Gables, is one of a number of Bermudians who attend the University of Miami. He was one of the first to fly back to school.

Although his Bermudian roommate Miss Nicki Reiss also flew to Miami with him last Tuesday, she went on a short vacation with her father to Palm Beach, which escaped the worst of the storm.

"It has been a bad day,'' she said from Palm Beach County yesterday. "But I am lucky I came here with my father instead of staying in Miami.'' The Premier's daughter Miss Amanda Swan had chosen to fly back to school today. However, she said she is not sure when University of Miami classes will start -- although the undamaged dorms are open to students.

"When I spoke to them earlier everything was up in the air. They did not know how long it would take to clean up the campus.'' She said she understood there were dozens of felled trees on the grounds and broken glass in classrooms.

Mr. Whittle rode out the storm in a townhouse five minutes away from his apartment. When he spoke to The Royal Gazette he did not know if his apartment had suffered any damage.

Looking out the window of his friend's house yesterday morning after the hurricane had left Florida and was racing west across the Gulf of Mexico, Mr.

Whittle said there were "tons of trees'' everywhere.

He said two metal road signs were flattened, a huge tree was atop a dumpster and another on top of a car. "But my car looks pretty good,'' he noted.

Mr. Whittle said he and his friends "buckled down everything'', putting their belongings in closets and on shelves in case of flooding.

He said they tracked the storm from Sunday morning up until their power went out around dawn.

After filling dozens of jugs with water and stocking up on bread and tinned food, they lit the couple of candles they had and waited nervously for Andrew to arrive.

Packing winds of 160mph-plus, it smashed ashore south of Miami before dawn.

The eye passed over Homestead, about 25 miles southwest of Miami, at about 5 a.m.

It was one of the fiercest storms to hit the United States in decades. It ripped roofs off homes, smashed cars and trucks, snapped power lines and uprooted trees as it hammered the southern tip of state with wild wind and rain.

Trees, traffic lights and power poles blocked the streets. And gusts blew out condominium windows and even knocked loose air conditioners. An estimated 1.2 million homes between Miami and Fort Lauderdale -- including Mr. Whittle's friend's -- were left without electricity.

The National Hurricane Centre in Coral Gables lost its radar and radio systems even before Andrew arrived.

Mr. Whittle was among the more than 200,000 people who stayed behind and did not seek safety in the four dozen shelters available. More than 700,000 fled northwards.

Bacardi International executive Mr. Raoul Miranda said he had many relatives in south Florida and a hotel on the Bahamian island of Bimini, which also suffered hurricane damage.

Although he has spoken to his family, he said he had been unable to get through to anyone in Bimini or Nassau, New Providence where he also has relatives.

"All the lines are down, it is very frustrating,'' he said. None of his family in the Miami area had power, he added. Hurricane devastation -- see Pages 6 and 7.