By Nelson Acosta
HAVANA (Reuters) - Tropical Depression Paula spun itself out over Cuba on Friday after smacking the capital Havana and the island's western tobacco-growing province with driving rain and high winds.
The U.S. National Hurricane Center in Miami said the small storm with surprising punch had now weakened further to a remnant low pressure area along the north central coast, with not much rain and dwindling winds. It was discontinuing advisories on the weather system.
A police official told Havana's Radio Rebelde more than 20 buildings had partially collapsed in Central Havana and Old Havana, which is a common problem when stormy weather strikes the scenic but badly decayed city.
The officer said four people had to be rescued, including a two-month-old girl who was now in the intensive care unit of a Havana hospital.
There were no reports of deaths or major damage from the storm, indicating the communist-ruled Caribbean nation was spared the destruction it suffered from three powerful hurricanes in 2008.
Many areas of tobacco-growing Pinar del Rio and much of the Havana, which has 2.2 million people, awoke without electricity on Friday after Paula, then a tropical storm, knocked over trees and power lines and flooded streets during its passage on Thursday.
Work crews cleaned up the streets of Havana, which were littered with tree debris. Many traffic lights were not functioning.
Some Havana residents were surprised by the ferocity of the storm, which lasted only two hours but sent waves crashing over the Malecon, the city's famous seaside boulevard.
"We weren't expecting it to be so strong and intense," said Niurka, a bank employee who only gave her first name.
"Today, for example, there's no power in the bank and we can't offer service. It's also flooded so we need to get the water out," she said.
"I haven't had power at home for over 12 hours, and they said it was a 'light' storm," she told Reuters.
Paula was the ninth hurricane of the busy 2010 Atlantic season and had reached Category 2 on the five-step Saffir-Simpson scale of intensity before it was downgraded.
Forecasters initially predicted it would be little more than a tropical depression by the time it reached Havana.
Ferry services were restored between the main Cuban island and the southern Isle of Youth.
Cuban state media said some roofs were torn off when the storm raced through Pinar del Rio province, which grows the premium tobacco for Cuba's world-famous cigars.
Officials said tobacco fields were protected and harvested leaves were safely stored.
(Editing by Jeff Franks and Jackie Frank)