Gonzalo leaves Bermuda in darkness

A man takes photos while standing on a cliff on the island's south shore battered by winds from approaching Hurricane Gonzalo, in Astwood Park, on Friday.

Power was out for nearly 30,000 customers in Bermuda, and many roads were impassable on Saturday after Hurricane Gonzalo pummelled the island with rain and howling winds through the night, but there were no reports of serious injuries or deaths.

The strongest storm to sweep the subtropical British territory in a decade whipped Bermuda with maximum sustained winds of around 175 kmph as it made landfall on Friday night, forecasters said, with hurricane force winds extending up to 95 km from its centre.

By Saturday morning, Gonzalo was about 435 km north-northeast of the Atlantic island, with sustained winds of 160 kph, the U.S. National Hurricane Center in Miami said.

Damage from the storm was still being assessed but appeared widespread in Bermuda, a tourist destination and affluent insurance industry hub about 1,030 km off the coast of North Carolina.