The Category 4 Hurricane Paloma, which created havoc on the Cuban Coast, weakened into a tropical depression in less than a day. Hurricane Paloma had hit Cuba with strong winds exceeding 240 kmph and a powerful sea surge sent waves almost a mile (11/2kilometers) inland as the storm ravaged Santa Cruz del Sur.

Civil Defense authorities said More than 10-foot-high (3-meter-high) waves washed away nearly all traces of about 50 modest houses in Santa Cruz del Sur, in all destroying 435 homes.

The late-season storm toppled a major communications tower, interrupted electricity and phone service, but no storm-related deaths were reported as hundreds of thousands of people had been evacuated before Paloma made landfall in Cuba.

Meanwhile, the U. S. National Hurricane Center in Miami reported that by Sunday morning, the Cuban and Bahamian governments had discontinued all warnings associated with Paloma hurricane as the once strong 145 mph (230 kph) winds had weakened to 30 mph (45 kph).

Cuba has been battered by successive hurricanes in recent months, as Gustav and Ike damaged nearly 440,000 homes and forced almost two million people into temporary shelters.