Hurricane force winds hit Bermuda Monday, leaving about 9,000 homes without power and causing property damage across the Island.

Gusts peaked at 92 knots, temperatures dipped to 52 degrees Fahrenheit, while thunder, lightning and hail accompanied driving rain.

The Causeway was closed to traffic as a precautionary measure, although passage was later resumed without incident. Bus service was disrupted, debris scattered across roads, trees felled and boats broke from their moorings.

The Bermuda Weather Service said the winds reached the strength of a Category Two hurricane, but insisted the storm was not an unusual occurrence.

"This is not abnormal weather for this time of year," said Kimberley Zuill, deputy director of BAS-Serco Ltd. "This is a winter gale that deepened into a winter storm that produced hurricane force gusts. The system itself was not unexpected.

"In fact, the Bermuda Weather Service was forecasting this winter gale with storm force gusts days in advance (although) the system did end up deepening more than models forecast, thus creating stronger winds.

"Also, there were severe thunderstorms that spawned in the very unsettled areas of the system as it passed over Bermuda."

Power supplier Belco said gale force winds, between 10.30 and 11.45 p.m. on Monday, disabled 28 circuits causing power outages in pockets across the Island. Electricity had been restored to all but 250 to 300 customers by 8.30 p.m. yesterday.

Public Safety Minister David Burch said his Ministry had received reports of power outages in four parishes and some isolated outages in other parts of the Island. Four schools were affected.

Of the response on Monday night, he said: "Generally, I'm pleased. It was a good little test for us at the beginning of the season, to make sure everything is ticking along for us quite nicely and that we are prepared and can respond.

"I can tell you I was very pleased with how quickly people pressed into service."

He added that a debriefing was due to be held yesterday afternoon: "Clearly, in all of these incidents, no matter how much you rehearse and how long the team has been together, there is always room for improvement. We see some hiccups in the process."The decision to close the Causeway came at about 11.30 p.m., he said, and it was reopened at 4.30 a.m. "It did come perhaps at the best time in that... most people were home. It would have impacted a minimum amount of people."He praised staff at Bailey's Bay quarry, where the forklift equipment needed to put the barriers on the Causeway is kept, for their prompt response."It's a typical winter storm," said Senator Burch, adding that he expected Belco to issue a reminder to landowners to trim overhanging trees, as they are often to blame for outages.He said that by the time it became clear how severe the storm was it was too late to get "live coverage" in the media about the Causeway.But he said a system was now in place to allow Government to broadcast on all radio stations in an emergency and that it would be used in future.Despite the wet and windy conditions, no major accidents were reported to Police. However officers were called out at 12.15 a.m. to attend to the Police vessel Guardian, a sailboat and a motor vessel, which were all drifting in the Dockyard area. Each only received very minor damage.Said a spokesperson: "The Bermuda Police Service would like to commend the two men that assisted the Police officer in securing the Guardian during challenging and potentially dangerous weather conditions." With gale force winds expected to continue today, residents were advised to ensure their boats were safe.American Airlines flight 1444 out of JFK airport was due to arrive in Bermuda at 8.45 p.m. Only minutes from landing, the airplane was forced to return to New York. "The flight took off as planned," said a passenger. "We were pretty close to the Island and we were instructed to prepare for landing," What had already been a bumpy ride became a truly terrifying experience for some."It was really really bad, the pilot said the winds were 46 to 47 knots. He said the winds were coming across the runway so we went back to New York."The woman continued: "One gentleman got sick during the flight and many people were relieved when the pilot made the decision to turn back. People started clapping as they didn't enjoy the turbulence."Those on-board spent the night in New York; the plane was able to fly into Bermuda yesterday morning."I am relieved to make it safely back home. I must say, the pilots were great on both flights," the passenger added.General manager at L.F. Wade International Airport Aaron Adderley said the only other affected flight was Air Canada, which was delayed by ten minutes.The Bermuda Fire Service emergency line was kept busy with a variety of storm related problems from sparking power lines to shattered glass doors.The Bermuda Weather Service predicted the blustery conditions would subside for a period then reconvene toward the end of the week."We will have a short reprieve from the winds, though the seas will remain rough," said Ms Zuill. "Thursday sees another rapidly deepening low, this one passing well to our north, however local conditions will deteriorate and southwest winds will increase quickly to gale force, with the potential for storm force gusts."The public is advised to monitor the weather on the Internet www.weather.bm or by telephone, 977, 9771, 9772 or 9773. Weather updates can also be heard on various radio stations.