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Policeman's body found after hurricane spins away from Bermuda

As Hurricane Fabian spun away from Bermuda, police on Sunday identified the first casualty of the most powerful storm to hit the British territory in half a century. Three were still missing.

Police found the body of Stephen Symons, 37, the first confirmed casualty of Fabian, on Sunday afternoon near the oil docks about a half mile from where he was swept into the white-capped seas.

The police officer was washed into the water from the airport causeway on Friday afternoon. Two other officers and a civilian were still missing.

``This will hurt and we will all feel that loss,'' said Bermuda Police Commissioner Jonathan Smith.

Fabian slammed into the mid-Atlantic territory Friday with 193kph winds that felled trees, lifted rooftops and toppled walls. Full damage assessments were not expected for days.

Islandwide there were reports of flooding, and many of Bermuda's famed golf courses were in ruins. Major damage also had been done to the roofs of many homes, police said. By Sunday afternoon, power had been restored to 11,000 of the 25,000 homes that suffered outages, but BELCO spokeswoman Linda Smith-Wilson said some homes could be without power for weeks.

Up to 32 workers from the Caribbean Electric Association will fly in from the Cayman Islands on Tuesday to help restore power.

Glenn Titterton, the president of one of the island's major insurers, Bermuda Fire and Marine, said Fabian was likely going to cost more than the US$60 million caused by 1987's Hurricane Emily.

Most roads to hospitals had been cleared, and patients were still trickling in Sunday with minor injuries. Officials could not immediately say how many had been injured by the hurricane.

Hurricane Fabian's lashing winds shattered part of a stone wall in the airport causeway. The airport reopened Sunday for private jets, but commercial flights resumed only yesterday.

Government offices were to open yesterday but opening of Government schools has been delayed by a week to Sept. 15 because of storm damage.

Some 40 people who had been staying in shelters returned Sunday to their homes, government spokeswoman Nea Talbot said.

As Fabian pushed further into the Atlantic on Sunday, Isabel organized and grew into the fourth Atlantic hurricane of the season about 2,430km east of the Leeward Islands.

Isabel had maximum sustained winds near 130kph Sunday and was moving west-northwest at about 24kph. It was not expected to make landfall for several days.
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