Hamilton was deserted tonight as Bermuda prepared for Hurricane Florence tomorrow morning. Although weather forecasters were predicting at midnight that the eye of the storm would pass 63 miles to the west of the Island on Monday morning, the size of the storm meant they were still expecting the Island to experience hurricane-force winds. The Island's only 24-hour gas station shut its doors in the late afternoon and many restaurants did not open, leaving what would otherwise be a busy summer evening spent preparing homes for the Category One storm. By nightfall, otherwise popular nightspots were closed. Here and there security guards could be seen and building custodians made final preparations. International media are known to be present and reporting live via satellite. Tropical storm force winds have already been recorded by the Bermuda Weather Service - numbers which are expected to change in the coming hours. At midnight, the closest point of approach of Hurricane Florence was predicted to be at 7 a.m. on Monday morning at 63 nautical miles to the west of the Island.

Maximum sustained winds of the storm just 130 nautical miles southwest of Bermuda have been recorded by US hurricane hunter aircraft as 80 knots with gusts to 100 knots or 92 miles per hour with gusts to 115 miles per hour.

The last time Bermuda was struck by a major hurricane, Fabian on September 5, 2003, four people were killed on the one-mile causeway linking the Main island to the St. George's and St. David's islands.

The Government has instituted a safety policy banning passage of the causeway across Castle Harbour once winds reach a certain level.