By Sam Strangeways HAMILTON, Bermuda (Reuters) - Hurricane Nicole plowed directly into Bermuda on Thursday, causing widespread damage and knocking out power to most homes and businesses while apparently sparing the tiny Atlantic island chain any severe injuries or fatalities, government officials said. Nicole, the strongest hurricane to sweep the subtropical British territory in more than a decade, made landfall before noon, packing sustained winds of up to 120 miles per hour (195 kph) and ranking as a fierce Category 3 storm on the five-level Saffir-Simpson scale, according to the U.S. National Hurricane Center in Miami. In the village of Flatts, just outside Bermuda's capital city of Hamilton, towering palm trees were bent over virtually at 90-degree angles in the howling winds, and boats moored at a nearby inlet rocked in the heavy waves.
