Hurrican Paloma hit Cuba on Sunday downing trees and wrecking homes. Hundreds of thousands of people were evacuated from Paloma’s path although the storm weakened before smashing into Cuba.

From winds of about 200 kilometers per hours, hurricane Paloma slowed down to winds of 140 kilometers per hour when hitting Cuba, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said. At its peak, Paloma was a Category 4 on the five-step Saffir-Simpson intensity scale.

Paloma is expected to weaken even more and become a tropical storm before reaching the central Bahamas by early Monday. Paloma was the third tropical storm that hit Cuba this year.

The storm caused coastal flooding in Santa Cruz del Sur where Paloma made landfall as the sea was pushed 700 meters inland. Several homes were damaged in the area populated by approximately 10,000 people.

Meteorologists forecasted that Paloma will dump 25 centimeters of rain on parts of Cuba, and as much as 50 centimeters in some areas.

Hurricane Paloma was the third tropical storm that hit Cuba this year and the eighth hurricane of a busy Atlantic hurricane season. Cuba was still making efforts to recover from the damages inflicted by hurricane Gustav and Ike.

Hurricane Ike prompted Cuban authorities to evacuate as much as 2 million people in September. Four people died in the tempest. Numerous people were evacuated in August as well as hurricane Gustav hit Cuba.