Tropical Storm Paula hits Cuban capital

HAVANA (AP) - Tropical Storm Paula brought winds and heavy rain to the Cuban capital on Thursday, turning some low lying streets into shallow rivers, bending palm trees and sending waves crashing against the city's famed Malecon sea wall, though there were no reports of serious damage.

With the storm losing steam by the hour, Cuban officials said they were optimistic it would not bring a repeat of the devastation wrought by three monster storms that hit in 2008.

The U.S. National Hurricane Center in Miami said Paula had maximum sustained winds of 45 mph (75 kph) near Havana and was on a course that would take it by the coastal resort area of Varadero.

The storm was moving east at about 14 mph (22 kph), and forecasters projected it to continue moving along Cuba's northern coast. Tropical storm force winds extended about 60 miles (95 kilometers) from the center, mostly north and east of the center.

A heavy rain poured down on the capital as dusk fell, and the sea, which had been as flat as a plate, quickly turned violent and frothy. Power was knocked out - or switched off - in most of the city, a normal precaution when winds are high. Waves crashed against the Malecon, and some streets were inundated with a foot or two of water.

The capital took its punishment after the storm passed over western Pinar del Rio, turning rutted country roads into red-brown, muddy quagmires, and lashing humble homes, rural schools and thatched tobacco-drying huts with wind.

A Category 2 hurricane the previous day, Paula lost strength as it crawled along the island's northwestern coast and was downgraded to a tropical storm in the morning.

The island's chief meteorologist, Jose Rubiera, said the storm would likely continue losing strength and become a tropical depression.

"The future of Paula is to keep moving eastward and weaken in the coming hours," he said.

In Pinar del Rio, most residents took the storm in stride.

"The rains have not been as intense as we had expected," Aliuska Banos, 28, told The Associated Press by telephone Thursday from the town of Sandino, along the extreme west of the island. "There were gusts of wind this morning, but they were not even strong enough to knock down my television antenna, which is pretty weak."

The government activated Cuba's crack Civil Defense forces and declared an alert for Pinar del Rio and the Isla de la Juventud. Ferry service to the outlying island was suspended, and residents of western Cuba were urged to board up windows, tie down loose items and stay vigilant. No evacuations were ordered.

Cuba's weak economy was devastated when Hurricanes Gustav, Ike and Paloma hit Pinar del Rio and other parts of the island in 2008, starting in late August. Fruit and vegetables disappeared off shelves, and shortages were exacerbated by widespread hoarding. Some 1,200 people were arrested for hurricane-related crimes, accused of stealing everything from gasoline and cement to rice and powdered milk.

The trio of storms did an estimated $10 billion in damage - or a quarter of Cuba's total GDP - a terrible blow for a country already reeling from the global economic downturn, a drop in tourism and fallen prices for nickel and other raw materials.

Pinar del Rio is known for its high-quality tobacco fields and is crucial for Cuba's famed cigar industry. Growers had planned to begin planting Tuesday for next year's harvest, though many likely held off due to the storm.

Paula brushed by Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula before arriving to Cuba, causing the only fatality associated with the storm so far.

Mickey Goodwin, 54, of Corpus Christi, Texas, drowned Tuesday while swimming off a Cancun beach despite red flags warning of dangerous waters, Mexican authorities said.