People and rescuers make their way through flooded streets in eastern Cuba

The death toll from heavy rains and flooding in east and central Cuba has risen to six, official media reported Tuesday as thousands of evacuees started returning home amid widespread property damage.

Heavy rains that began last Thursday have weakened and water levels were now subsiding. Bridges, roads and sanitation systems were damaged by the rains, as well as several hundred homes. Thousands of hectares of crops, including sugar cane, were destroyed in the island nation battling its worst economic crisis in decades.

The floods came after months of severe drought in Cuba's east.