HURRICANE HITS HARD; DEATHS FEW : ISLANDERS HUNKER UNDER BIG BERTHA.

Byline: Kay Johnson Associated Press 

Ripping off roofs and doors and hurling lumber and trash cans through the air, Hurricane Bertha slammed into the Virgin Islands on Monday with torrential rains and winds that gusted to 103 mph.

The first hurricane of the Atlantic season powered over a string of northeastern Caribbean islands, growing to a 460-mile-wide menace heading directly for St. Thomas, the main island of the U.S. Virgin Islands.

While two surfers were reported missing in the storm, on the whole, people on the islands that Bertha passed Monday were relieved by the relatively light damage, compared to last year's punishing Hurricanes Luis and Marilyn.

``I feel very fortunate,'' said Tracy Booth of St. Thomas, although she added that her friends lost the roof of their house to the storm.

Bertha passed directly over St. Thomas but came no closer than about 45 miles to Puerto Rico, where thousands of frightened people had sought shelter. Little damage was reported there.

Bertha headed northwest overnight toward the Turks and Caicos and the Bahamas. Hurricane warnings were in effect for those islands, but were canceled for the U.S. and British Virgin Islands.

An American surfer was missing in the rough seas and high winds off Puerto Rico. Police said Lilton Jones, 35, of New York City was Bertha's first victim. Another male surfer drowned in the U.S. Virgin Islands, said Gov. Roy L. Schneider. No details were immediately available.

Authorities also blamed the hurricane for two traffic deaths on Puerto Rico, in which a car ran off a rain-slick road and hit a tree.

Amateur radio operators picked up reports that a ship was drifting in the hurricane off Puerto Rico, and that half the 42 people on board were missing in the storm.

But the Coast Guard was unable to contact the vessel directly, and a search by Coast Guard ships and aircraft turned up no ship in distress, said Dennis Uhlenhopp, a spokesman for the Coast Guard in San Juan.

On Monday night, Bertha was 70 miles north of San Juan, Puerto Rico, still packing 90 mph winds.

Forecasters gave Bertha no more than a 30 percent chance of hitting Florida, but the U.S. Hurricane Center in Miami told southeastern coastal cities to keep an eye on the storm.

In the Virgin Islands, a St. Thomas school building weakened by Hurricane Marilyn last year collapsed Monday morning, a chilling foretaste as islanders anxiously awaited the brunt of the storm.

A blue tarpaulin shot through the air in downtown Charlotte Amalie, followed by two pieces of lumber, as Bertha turned someone's temporary roof into lethal projectiles.

``At 90 miles an hour, a person is turned into a leaf'' by hurricane winds, said forecaster Matt Bragaw.

An iguana clung desperately to a rocking Flamboyant tree branch on Blackbeard's Hill in Charlotte Amalie, the main city on St. Thomas.

On St. Croix, rising winds whipped up garbage cans and tree branches, whirling trash into the streets. Sheets of rain flooded streets and homes in the low-lying Water Gut neighborhood. The door of a large warehouse was ripped open by winds.

The governors of Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands put police and troops on alert to prevent the looting that often follows hurricanes.

More than 200 people were holed up in shelters in Fredericksted on St. Croix, said administrator Lawrence Bastian. He said some people refused to leave their unsafe trailers, which were brought in as temporary housing for victims of Hurricane Hugo in 1989.

Airlines canceled flights and cruise lines diverted ships to avoid Bertha's winds. American Airlines arranged six flights from San Juan to Miami shortly after daybreak Monday ``to get people off that needed to get off,'' said airline spokeswoman Pat San Pedro in Miami.

But American canceled 107 Caribbean flights and American Eagle dropped all 153 flights in and out of its Puerto Rico hub, Antigua, St. Thomas, St. Maarten and St. Croix.

Earlier Monday, Bertha passed over St. Kitts and Nevis, Anguilla and the British Virgin Islands, uprooting trees but doing relatively little damage.

The British Virgin Islands' ZBVI Radio said Bertha tore the roofs of several homes and a government clinic in Tortola.

Also in Bertha's way were Saba, St. Eustatius, Guadeloupe and St. Barthelemy. Most of the islands were hard-hit last year, when Hurricanes Marilyn and Luis struck within days of each other, destroying thousands of homes in the worst Atlantic hurricane season in 60 years.

Eighty percent of homes on St. Thomas were damaged or destroyed by Marilyn and fewer than half have been repaired. On Antigua, 600 families were living in homes made unsafe by Hurricane Luis.

Bertha appeared to have spared most of them as the storm concentrated on the U.S. Virgin Islands.

``Strong winds, heavy rain, but no structural damage reported,'' said the Four Seasons Resort in Nevis.

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Photo

PHOTO A man brings his mother-in-law to his home in Fajardo , Puerto Rico, while Hurricane Bertha roars.

Associated Press