The Causeway was closed for four hours, nearly 500 people went without power and hundreds of schoolchildren and workers were sent home as hurricane force winds battered Bermuda yesterday.

With gusting winds hitting 75 knots, flights from Bermuda International Airport and ferry services on the Island were also cancelled.

Public Safety Minister David Burch shut the Causeway at 1.30 p.m. for safety reasons, with sustained winds at 45 knots.

It remained shut until winds dropped at about 5.30 p.m., leading to scores of frustrated motorists in lengthy tailbacks.

All Government schools were closed at lunchtime after power outages at five schools across the country, with a number of private schools following suit.

Business leaders described it as a ?crazy? day, as many staff left early amid confusion over the Causeway and to fetch their children from school.

Four electricity circuits went down during the morning, with about 485 people without power, some for up to three hours.

It is thought the problems happened when the wind blew branches onto electricity lines.

In the afternoon, a Continental flight from Newark was delayed, while JetBlue and Delta?s Atlanta flights were cancelled because the closure of the Causeway meant people could not reach the airport.

Mr. Burch said people had called the Government to complain about the closure of the Causeway, but argued he acted in the interests of public safety.

He said Government had set guidelines to shut it in strong winds in the light of Hurricane Fabian in 2003.

?Following Fabian, the Government took the stance that when wind speeds rose above 45 knots the Causeway would be closed to vehicular traffic,? he said. ?We have to remember that while the sustained winds were 45 knots, the gusts were up to 70 knots.

?We have had some criticism for closing the Causeway, but when it comes to a question of life and limb, we are not going to take a chance. If the experts say the winds are gusting at 70 knots, I am going to take action.

?Bermuda has a lot of experts who think they know what to do. To some extent, people are a little bit cavalier because it doesn?t occur to them how dangerous the winds can be.?

Declan O?Connell of the Bermuda Weather Service said the most severe winds were early afternoon in Dockyard.

He said that area faced sustained winds of 55 knots and gusting winds of 75 knots.

The airport area had sustained winds of about 38 knots, with gusting winds of about 52 knots at that time.

Mr. O?Connell said the storm had been at a fairly steady level from about 9 a.m. until late afternoon, and suggested Government had made the right decision to take action.

?A storm like this isn?t totally rare ? it happens maybe once or twice a winter,? he said.

?But I would think they were right to close the Causeway. You can never look back in hindsight ? maybe somebody has been saved by not being able to go across the Causeway in those winds.?

The weatherman said the wind had formed north of Bermuda and was now heading towards Canada.

Chamber of Commerce executive director Diane Gordon said: ?It was probably not a very productive day for business in Bermuda. There has been a lot of confusion and a loss of a great deal of money. It?s been crazy.

?Retail businesses maintained their stance all day, letting staff go home depending where they live, and whether they had children to collect.?

The most severe outage happened in the Main Road area of St. David?s, when about 350 people were without power from about 10.40 a.m..

It is believed two circuits tripped at around the same time. One left 200 people without power for about an hour, the other affected 150 people for about 45 minutes.

In The Lane, off Harbour Road, Paget, 86 customers were without power for about an hour and a half from noon.

Meanwhile, about 50 customers were down for around three hours in the St. Monica?s Road area of Devonshire.

Bermuda Electric Light Company (Belco) spokeswoman Linda Smith said: ?We have been able to stay on top of things and ensure we haven?t had an excessive number of outages.?

Mr. Burch said all schoolchildren were sent home after five schools were shut due to outages.

A wave of students from the Berkeley Institute could be seen walking into Hamilton around lunchtime. Many of the pupils are traditionally picked up from the Pembroke school campus by bus, but yesterday had to walk to the Central Bus Terminal to take their perspective rides.

?Everyone has to walk if you don?t have a bike,? said Shanelle Smith, 17.

The students learned of their early dismissal from the school?s principal over the intercom.

?We didn?t have an assembly or nothing. Everybody just got let out,? said 16-year-old Me-Esha Pace.

During the girls? walk into the city the sun was shining, but the wind was blowing heavily.

A few students locked arms with one another to brace themselves against the gusts as they walked.

Not all students said they were going home after the early dismissal: one young woman said she?d be waiting nearby with a friend until her hair appointment in the late afternoon.

Private schools which closed for the afternoon include Bermuda High School and Warwick Academy.

Telephone companies said they had not suffered major problems, but that there was congestion during the middle of the day as people rang their loved ones.

M3Wireless CEO Lloyd Fray said, ?It was pretty much business as usual for our cell and wireless customers.?

Bermuda Telephone Company?s acting CEO Edgar Dill, said: ?Following the Government?s lead, BTC carried out standard hurricane preparation procedures. We provided extra staffing of emergency response teams and ensured that generators were strategically placed throughout the Island to provide back-up power in the event of Belco power outages.?

In early afternoon, the Ministry of Community and Cultural Affairs announced all community education classes were cancelled due to the weather, while the Bermuda Cadet Corps training at Warwick Camp ? scheduled for last night ? was postponed to 6.30 p.m. next Friday.

The fire service reported no damage as a result of the wind.