Cuba and the Bahamas could face severe winds and rains throughout the next few days as Tropical Storm Paloma strengthens and becomes more organized over the Caribbean, forecasters say.

The storm formed near the coast of Nicaragua overnight and is expected to dump up to 12 inches of rain on that country, as well as Honduras and the Cayman Islands, before moving north and east toward other parts of the Caribbean.

The storm currently has sustained winds of 30 miles per hour. However, authorities in the Cayman islands have issued a hurricane watch, which means that winds of at least 74 miles per hour are expected over the next 36 hours.

Paloma is the 17th storm of the busier-than-normal 2008 Atlantic hurricane season.

It comes on the tail end of a season which has seen four particularly devastating hurricanes and storms, including Ike, Gustav and Norbert, which laid waste to parts of Cuba, Haiti and Texas.

Related links: Bloomberg, Associated Press, Reuters ‘

By Karen Elowitt for PeterGreenberg.com.

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