Hurricane Paloma, an "extremely dangerous" storm, made landfall in southern Cuba Saturday evening after lashing Grand Cayman with high winds and heavy rain, forecasters said.
Paloma hit Santa Cruz del Sur, Cuba, at about 6:20 p.m. ET, the National Hurricane Center reported. The storm's winds, which reached 145 mph earlier in the afternoon, dropped to about 125 mph at landfall - weakening Paloma to a Category 3 storm, CNN reported.
The storm had dumped rain on Little Cayman and Cayman Brac - the other two Cayman Islands - and assailed them with sustained winds of up to 140 mph (225 km/hr), and higher gusts, the Miami, Florida-based National Hurricane Center said.
About 100 people evacuated a shelter on one of the Cayman Islands after Hurricane Paloma's heavy winds and rain caved in part of the structure's roof Saturday, the deputy director of Radio Cayman said.