(CNN) -- After dealing a walloping blow to Haiti, where at least six people died and a number of homes were destroyed, Tropical Storm Tomas weakened rapidly Sunday, the National Hurricane Center said.

As of 4 p.m. ET, Tomas was located about 500 miles (805 kilometers) south-southwest of Bermuda, forecasters said. It was downgraded to a tropical storm early Sunday. Its maximum sustained winds were at 60 mph (95 kph), but Tomas was not posing a threat to land.

The storm was heading north-northeast at near 3 mph (6 kph). It was forecast to turn northeast or east-northeast and accelerate in the next couple of days, the Hurricane Center said in its last advisory on Tomas. Further weakening is expected, forecasters said.

In Haiti, a nation still grappling with the effects of a killer earthquake and a deadly cholera outbreak this year, Tomas ruined houses and turned some streets into rivers. Six people were also killed by the storm, according to the Haitian Civil Protection Authority.

January's 7.0-magnitude earthquake killed 250,000 people and left 1 million more homeless. Many of those Haitians have been living in tent camps, and aid workers had been working in recent days to move the residents to safer housing, which was difficult to find.

(CNN) -- While winter's start remains more than a month away, much of Minnesota and Wisconsin were under a winter storm warning Saturday, with some areas seeing almost a foot of snow.

As early as 10:30 a.m., 11 inches of snow had fallen in Eden Prairie, Minnesota, the National Weather Service reported.

Other Minnesota communities had seen 10 inches by midday, including New Hope, Amboy, Mankato and Montgomery, while parts of Minneapolis were blanketed by at least nine inches of snow.

In some areas, an inch of snow was falling an hour.

"Even though we get this every single year, for whatever reason, the first snow of the year appears to make everyone forget how to drive in snow," Drew Gordon, of Eagan, Minnesota, told CNN Radio. "So it's always a huge, huge mess."

Shortly after 5 p.m., the Minnesota State Patrol reported on its Twitter page that officers had responded to at least 401 crashes on Saturday, 45 of them with injuries. The agency warned drivers that conditions could worsen in the evening, as roads turned icy.

The storm also affected air travel, with dozens of flights to and from Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport delayed or canceled.

The reality hits when you need to dig out the shovels, and the snowsuits and the boots. --Lisa Saline, Bloomington, Minnesota

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The snow was accompanied by sustained winds blowing as high as 25 mph. The National Weather Service's warning extends through noon Sunday, with just under a foot of snow predicted in the heaviest hit areas, including Minneapolis and St. Paul.

The storm's weekend timing muted its impact on traffic and the economy. Still, as the first big snow since last spring, it managed to jolt even Minnesota residents familiar with wintry weather.

"The reality hits when you need to dig out the shovels, and the snowsuits and the boots," said Lisa Saline of Bloomington told CNN Radio. "I'm glad I don't have kids in strollers anymore, and I can hand them a shovel and have them go do the driveway."

The snow was forecast to continue into Sunday, and more might come before long, according to the National Weather Service. Temperatures were forecast to be below freezing much of next week, with a 30 percent chance of additional snow on Tuesday.

Minnesota and Wisconsin aren't the only U.S. locales experiencing wintry weather in mid-November.

"Near blizzard conditions" are forecast for Wyoming and parts of western Nebraska starting as early as Monday night, with persistent snow combining with sustained winds as high as 45 mph and gusts up to 60 mph. While the National Weather Service is predicting a break Thursday, another winter storm could barrel through that region next weekend.

Hurricane Paula heads towards Mexico

Hurricane Paula developed in the southwest Caribbean Sea and is the ninth hurricane of the 2010 Atlantic season.

Paula is currently in the Gulf of Honduras as a category one storm producing torrential rain and sustained winds of 75mph (121km/h). The storm is moving in a northwest direction at 10mph (16km/h) towards the eastern Yucatan Peninsula of Mexico.

Although Paula isn't expected to make landfall, heavy rain associated with the hurricane may produce flooding across the east coast of the Yucatan Peninsula. Forecasters expect as much as 150mm (6 inches) of rain in places.

Flood warnings are also in place for low-lying areas of Belize and north Honduras for the next few days.

After brushing past the Yucatan Peninsula, Hurricane Paula is then expected to track in a northeast direction which will take it to Cuba by Friday.

Meanwhile another Tropical Storm is likely to form in the Bay of Bengal, expected to bring torrential rain to Calcutta and perhaps Madras later this week.

Flood in Australia

Parts of Queensland have been flooded after extreme thunderstorms at the weekend.

Thunderstorms unleashed downpours across the state with rainfall totals reaching 250mm (10 inches) in parts of the Gold Coast area from Sunday to Monday.

According to the Australian Bureau of Meteorology, about 150mm (6 inches) of rain had drenched the state capital Brisbane by Monday afternoon, giving rise to flash flooding which inundated homes and businesses.

Brisbane police said several drivers had to be rescued from stranded vehicles, and many roads around the city were closed due to the flooding. Strong winds associated with the storms also brought down trees and cut the power to more than 20,000 homes.

The heavy rain is forecast to ease during Monday allowing officials to continue with the clean-up operations.