A HAMPSHIRE woman has revealed the drama of surviving a hurricane that crushed trees, flattened power lines and battered Bermuda for the second time in a week.

New Forest resident Susan Rowley and two relatives ran for shelter and battened down the hatches as 125mph winds from Hurricane Gonzalo pummelled the tiny British territory.

She and sister and brother-in-law Rita and David Harries, who used to live in Romsey, spent Friday night in a room with no electricity for six hours, waiting until the powerful storm had passed by.

The storm's centre passed over the Island and forecasters warned of the danger of a 10-foot storm surge before it moved in.

Burley resident and mother-of-two Susan spoke to the Daily Echo having not yet left the apartment the trio had barricaded themselves in.

She said: “It was very noisy after the eye of the storm passed over.

“It was this amazing eerie silence after this horrendous crashing, and when it came back after 10pm it was even worse.

“I don't know if something had fallen but I heard pane after pane after pane of glass crashing down - it was quite incredible.

“We had a completely sleepless night and we are all fine, and that's the main thing.”

Daily Echo:

Just under half of the island's 70,000 population were reported to be without power on Friday night as the hurricane roared through, just days after Tropical Storm Faye damaged homes and knocked down power lines.

Gonzalo approached the island as a category three hurricane and weakened to a category two, but was still powerful enough to damage the roof and intensive care unit.

It is expected to cause significant disruption and dangerous driving conditions in the UK on Tuesday, with the Met Office issuing a low-level yellow warning.

Daily Echo: Susan Rowley with Rory McIIroy at the PGA Grand Slam of Golf tournament at Port Royal Golf Course, Bermuda.

The last hurricane to hit Bermuda was Fabian in September 2003, which killed four people and caused thousands of pounds worth of damage.

Susan's husband Simon is recovering at home after being injured by last week's tropical storm.

He was trying to fix a rattling window when it was blown in by powerful winds, sending him flying across the kitchen.

Susan said: “It was like a bomb going off. It was horrendous.

“This week was clearing up from one storm and preparing for another.

“It's not exactly how I wanted to spend the last week of my holiday - I wanted to be lying on the beach.”

The US National Hurricane Centre said the storm weakened as it moved away from Bermuda in a direction that would take it past Newfoundland and across the Atlantic to Britain and Ireland.