BELCO say it could be weeks before the whole Island has power, although 11,000 of the 25,000 affected homes were back online by late last night.

Spokeswoman Linda Smith-Wilson urged islanders with power to invite people from the 14,000 homes still without power for dinner and showers.

She said: "There are things people can do for each other to reduce the frustration."

Some crews would be working through the night while linesmen from the Caribbean are set to fly in on Tuesday to help out said Mrs. Smith-Wilson.

But she warned Bermuda was in for the long haul.

"Some of the main lines are very, very badly damaged.

"There are places on the south shore where the whole road has been taken out and the underground system has been washed out to sea."

She thanked the public for being patient and not flooding BELCO with calls about outages.

She said: "We are trying to get all the main lines energised by Tuesday or Wednesday. When that happens a lot of people will come on but a lot of people won't."

Once all the main lines were restored she said BELCO would then welcome calls reporting outages but she warned the branch lines were more labour intensive and restoring service to all the Island's 32,000 homes and businesses could take weeks.

She said at least 20 and possibly 32 linesmen from the Caribbean Electric Association will arrive from the Cayman Islands tomorrow to do the nitty-gritty neighbourhood work.

The association exists to give support to islands in trouble. Mrs. Smith-Wilson said: "We have been a member for 15 years and have sent crews to the Caribbean numerous times when they have trouble.

"They started planning this before Fabian arrived."

And she said BELCO's efforts had been bolstered by construction firms who were doing some poll erecting to free up BELCO crews for hooking up wires.

Landscapers were also chipping in by removing downed trees said Mrs. Smith-Wilson.

BTC estimated 3,000 phone lines were still out after Fabian - at least half are in the east end but repair efforts had been hampered by damage to the causeway. The company urged those without service to call 611. Spokesperson Ona Fletcher reminded the public that cordless phones would not work in homes without electricity.