Storm force gusts and more than three inches of rain battered Bermuda for much of Thursday night into yesterday morning.

Flooding was reported across the Island with walls collapsing and houses damaged — one on Palmetto Road was severely damaged.

Several residents also suffered power outages in Devonshire and Pembroke.

An embankment along the south side of Palmetto Road near Perimeter Lane, Devonshire, collapsed during the storm, bringing down utility poles.

Police advised motorists to avoid Dutton Avenue in Pembroke and for a while Palmetto Road was closed.

Bermuda Weather Service said “an active cold front passed over on Thursday night and on into Friday morning, bringing heavy rains with frequent embedded thunderstorms.”

Winds at the airport were often close to gale force throughout the night with occasional sustained gale force winds above 34 knots or more.

Highest sustained winds at the airport were recorded at 35 knots, just into the gale category. Gusts reached 45 knots.

On more exposed sites across Bermuda, anemometers recorded sustained gale force winds. Storm force gusts of 52 knots were recorded in Dockyard around 10pm.

Peak wind speeds reached above 60 knots shortly before midnight at Commissioner’s Point. More notable than the winds, said the Bermuda Weather Service, was the rainfall.

Between two and eight in the morning, 2.72 inches of rain fell on the Island, bringing the 24-hour total rainfall to 3.22 inches, and the total rainfall for 2014 up to 10.76 inches, compared to a to-date average of 7.81 inches.

Retaining walls collapsed in Pembroke and Warwick, damaging property and incurring a bill Public Works Minister Patricia-Gordon Pamplin said was too premature to estimate.

For Gloria Ray, problems with her neighbours’ retaining wall — an issue since 1968, she said — came to a crashing head around 9.30am yesterday when it collapsed, rolling into her yard and damaging her roof and gutters.

“We still have to assess the damage,” said Mrs Ray, who was making her bed when the wall came down. “I thought the whole house was coming down as well. It’s practically built on sand.

“The Planning Department told him [the neighbour] years ago to discontinue the wall, they even put up a sign, but he took it down.”