Storm-weary Cuba assessed the damage Sunday from Hurricane Paloma, which pounded the island just weeks after deadly storms Gustav and Ike claimed hundreds of lives and exacted millions of dollars in rebuilding costs.

Paloma was gentler than its two predecessors except in a few regions, including hard-hit Santa Cruz, which felt the full force of the storm's Category Three 200-kilometer (125-mile) per hour winds late Saturday.

"I've never seen anything so destructive in the 40 years I've been living here," Sandra Salazar, a technician with Cuba's telephone company, told AFP, describing the fury of the storm.

At 2100 GMT, a weakened Paloma -- now a tropical depression -- was stalled some 15 miles (25 kilometers) south-southwest of Camaguey, drifting northward at around one mile (two kilometers) per hour.

The storm's winds late Sunday were about 35 miles (55 kilometers) per hour and forecasters from the US National Hurricane Center in Miami said Paloma was likely to weaken further. They were expecting it to become a weak low pressure system overnight.

Authorities did not report any victims, in part thanks to the Communist island's vaunted civil defense system. More than 500,000 Cubans were evacuated to central provinces. Some 3,000 foreign tourists were taking shelter on northern holiday islands in the region of Ciego de Avila, the Civil Defense said.

The town of Santa Cruz found itself in Paloma's crosshairs 76 years after another major hurricane devastated the area, killing more than 3,000 people in what was the largest natural disaster in modern Cuban history.

Authorities said the country was up to the challenge of rebuilding, as it regrouped from the third massive storm to hit Cuba in as many months.

"We'll have to continue rebuilding, continue to move forward," General Jose Ramon Pardo Guerra, chief of staff of the Civil Defense, told local radio.

Across the storm-hit regions, reams of workers fanned out to clear away debris, especially in Santa Cruz, where some 4,000 dwellings were damaged or destroyed. A telecommunications tower also was felled, and several factories reported damage.

"It is the third heavy blow to hit our economy, but we have to accept it and move on," Vice President Jose Ramon Machado said while reviewing the damage in Santa Cruz.

Before lashing Cuba, Paloma left devastation in its wake on the Cayman Islands, a British territory with tourism and banking interests, south of Cuba's southern coast, with piles of debris, flattened trees, and localized flooding.

The smaller islands of Cayman Brac and Little Cayman were devastated by Paloma, the strongest storm to hit the islands since 2004's Hurricane Ivan.

This season's storms, including Hurricanes Gustav and Ike, have left hundreds dead across the Caribbean and Central America and wrought billions of dollars in damage.

Gustav and Ike, which struck Cuba on August 30 and September 9, caused an estimated 9.3 billion dollars in damage, according to official reports. The storms damaged tourism infrastructure and destroyed about 80 percent of crops.

earlier related report
Paloma passes over Cuba
Hurricane Paloma weakened Sunday as it stalled over southeastern Cuba after battering the island with lashing rain and gale-force winds.

After making landfall on Cuba's southeast coast earlier in the day as a powerful Category Three hurricane, Paloma quickly declined to a tropical storm and now has winds of 95 kilometers (60 miles) an hour, the US National Hurricane Center.

At 1500 GMT, the eye of the hurricane was located near the city of Camaguey, Cuba, according to the US center.

Authorities did not report any victims, but had begun to assess the storm's damage to sanitation and the power grid.

Faced with a devastating storm, more than 500,000 Cubans were evacuated to central provinces. Some 3,000 foreign tourists were taking shelter on northern holiday islands in the region of Ciego de Avila, the Civil Defense said.

The town of Santa Cruz found itself in Paloma's crosshairs 76 years after another major hurricane devastated the area, killing more than 3,000 people in what was the largest natural disaster in modern Cuban history.

But even weakened, the storm was expected to wreak havoc on the cash-strapped communist-ruled island of more than 11 million people, which has been already devastated this season by two other monster storms.

Authorities said the country was up to the challenge.

"We'll have to continue rebuilding, continue to move forward," General Jose Ramon Pardo Guerra, chief of staff of the Civil Defense, told local radio.

Moving northeast at four kilometers (two miles) an hour, Paloma was "forecast to degenerate to a weak area of low pressure by Monday," the NHC said.

Paloma had intensified to a Category 4 storm with winds up to 215 kilometers (135 miles) per hour as it crossed the Caribbean. It left devastation in its wake on the Cayman Islands, a British territory with tourism and banking interests, south of Cuba's southern coast.

Residents of Grand Cayman emerged from shelters Saturday morning to piles of debris, flattened trees, and localized flooding. Power to most of the island had been restored by midday, and Grand Cayman's governor Stuart Jack reported no casualties.

But the smaller islands of Cayman Brac and Little Cayman were devastated by the strongest storm to hit the islands since 2004's Hurricane Ivan.

"Probably 90 to 95 percent of homes and buildings have been damaged" on Cayman Brac, local commissioner Ernie Scott told AFP by telephone. "Some have been totally devastated."

There were no early reports of casualties, as all tourists were evacuated and most residents were moved to shelters, Scott said.

In Cuba, potentially catastrophic storm surge flooding of 15 to 20 feet (4.5 to 6.0 meters) accompanied by large and dangerous battering waves were expected near and to the east of Santa Cruz del Sur along the south coast of Cuba, US forecasters said.

Most residents had evacuated Santa Cruz by midday Saturday to avoid a potential repeat of the November 9, 1932 storm that hit near Santa Cruz. That storm killed 70 percent of the population, its winds topping 250 kilometers (155 miles) per hour, flooding the area with nine-meter (30-foot) waves.

Cuba is reeling from a devastating storm season, with Paloma the third hurricane to crash into the island in 60 days.

The season's storms, including Hurricanes Gustav and Ike, have left hundreds dead across the Caribbean and Central America and wrought billions of dollars in damage.

Gustav and Ike, which struck Cuba on August 30 and September 9, caused an estimated 9.3 billion dollars in damage, according to official reports. The storms damaged tourism infrastructure and destroyed about 80 percent of crops.

Gladys Sanchez, a resident of Minas, north of Camaguey city, told AFP by telephone that "no-one had expected another hurricane."

"There are people here who are still homeless," she said, adding that local residents had just begun to recover from the previous storms.