Hurricane heads for Cuba

Cuba has been placed on alert for Hurricane Paula.



The storm is forecast to brush past Mexico's Yucatan coast, home to hundreds of resorts by later this afternoon and move near or over western Cuba by tonight or early Thursday.



The US National Hurricane Centre says areas of mountainous terrain over central and western Cuba could be drenched by rain that could cause life-threatening flash floods and mudslides.



Paula is the ninth hurricane of the Atlantic-Caribbean season.



Earlier this afternoon Paula was packing maximum sustained winds near 100 miles per hour.