Widespread outages which saw two thirds of Bermuda suffer power cuts in only a Category One hurricane have again raised questions about the Island?s vulnerable overhead power lines.

However BELCO said it would cost $300 million and take a decade to put all power lines underground and it had no plans to do so. BELCO spokeswoman Linda Smith-Wilson said all of BELCO?s transmission lines are underground and 55 percent of the distribution is underground.

A majority of the City of Hamilton is underground, with the exception of the North Hamilton area.

She said BELCO is actively working with the area to try to secure locations for the placement of transformers and underground vaults in order to underground there.

She added: ?It is estimated it would cost $300 million to underground entire island over a ten-year period. BELCO has no plans to completely underground the Island.

?Any such effort would require a community based financing and effort as there would need to be land made available for underground vaults and easements, and massive traffic disruptions, amongst other things.?

She said BELCO?s undergrounding priorities included the City of Hamilton and St. George?s and joint venture projects.

?Since Fabian we have undertaken extensive undergrounding projects in support of system security, i.e. Dundonald Street to King Street and we are currently working in the East Broadway area. Also, new developments are most often underground.?

She said BELCO?s main plant did not lose power although two engines, sensing the strain on the system caused by the high winds, shut themselves down and dropped approximately ten megawatts of load.

?This is a protection that is built into the system. Within about 30-45 minutes those two engines were brought back on line and customers who were being serviced by those engines had power restored.?

Last night Acting Premier Ewart Brown said: ?It would be nice if Bermuda was in a situation where we weren?t so sensitive to the weather in regards to losing power.

?I think it is part of the long range planning to include that. If we were to do that we would be the most storm resistant destination.?