A powerful rain storm that lashed the Island last night caused one of the Island's main arteries to be closed to traffic, while many smaller roads became impassible due to localised flooding.

In Hamilton, the flood waters were so high that parked auxiliary cycles were upended and floated into the streets, and there were reports of power outages in Southampton.

Flooding from torrential rain caused a section of South Road near Tee Street and Devonshire Bay to be closed off and Works and Engineering staff were called out to remediate the situation.

A Bermuda Police Service spokesman said last night: "This area is quite badly flooded and it's not possible for vehicles to pass at the moment. Works and Engineering are going out there and we hope to have resolved the situation shortly."

Auxiliary cycles were upended and floated down Dundonald Street in Hamilton as flood waters rose in the area surrounding the Masters store. A motorist who tried to drive a car through the flood eventually abandoned his vehicle when its engine stopped, leaving the car stranded in the middle of the street with its lights still on.

In the nearby 'Ten' wine bar customers found themselves trapped by the flood. Doors were barricaded with towels.

A 29-year-old woman from Pembroke described the scene: "The flood water was pouring down the street outside Masters. We saw someone try to drive a car through it and end up stuck in the water. Bags of trash that had been left outside on the street floated away, and cycles were upended and started to float too."

She said customers trapped in the wine bar made the best of the situation during the torrential rain storm.

Abandoned cars were also reported in other areas as streets became impassable.

However, there were no reports of any major road accidents before The Royal Gazette went to press. The Police spokesman said: "There only seems to have been some flooding in low-lying areas. There haven't been any collisions of note."

The Bermuda Fire Service confirmed it had received several reports of flooding, but due to the volume of calls, a spokeswoman could "not comment further at this time".

The Bermuda Weather Service said the heavy downpours were expected to ease by about 3 a.m.