This man now has a clear view of the sea after Hurricane Paloma ripped his house from the foundation in Santa Cruz del Sur, Cuba. - AP

CAMAGUEY, Cuba (AP):

Crashing waves and powerful sea surges from Hurricane Paloma destroyed hundreds of homes along Cuba's southern coast, but the storm rapidly weakened into a tropical depression on Sunday as it moved over the island.

Early damage reports were limited, but state media said the late-season storm toppled a major communications tower, interrupted electricity and phone service and sent seawater almost a mile inland, ravaging a coastal community near where it made landfall.

No storm-related deaths were immediately reported.

Recovery

Officials had feared that Paloma could slow Cuba's recovery from Gustav and Ike, devastating hurricanes that struck earlier this year, causing about US$9.4 billion in damage and destroying nearly a third of the island's crops.

Paloma roared ashore near Santa Cruz del Sur late Saturday as a Category Four hurricane but quickly lost strength, according to the US National Hurricane Center in Miami.

By nightfall, Paloma's centre was 15 miles south-southwest of Camaguey. Once as strong as 145mph, the storm's winds had weakened to 35mph. Paloma was drifting towards the north at 1mph.

On Sunday, waves more than 10 feet high levelled about 50 modest houses along the coast of Santa Cruz del Sur. Government authorities said altogether 435 homes in the community were destroyed.

Tales of torment

Javier Ramos told The Associated Press he rebuilt his simple wood-frame house in the town after Hurricane Ike, only to watch Paloma flatten it again.

Elsewhere in town, Angel Betancourt was skinning a drowned goat. "The water was up to a metre high and the goat drowned," he said. "What else can we do? We're going to eat it."

Touring Santa Cruz del Sur on Sunday, Vice-President José Ramon Machado Ventura said the area was among the hardest-hit nationwide.

Across central and eastern Cuba, more than 500,000 people were evacuated from low-lying areas as Paloma approached. Cuba regularly moves people en masse to higher ground before tropical storms and hurricanes, preventing major loss of life.