FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. _ Beryl the one-time hurricane may not be done yet.
As of Monday evening, the National Hurricane Center gave Beryl a 50 percent chance of regenerating into a tropical cyclone over the next five days. It was expected to turn northward over the Bahamas and western Atlantic Ocean, with the western edge of the cone about 100 miles off Florida's east coast.
Beryl had been the first hurricane of the 2018 Atlantic hurricane season. It dissipated and was downgraded from a tropical storm Sunday, but the remnants brought heavy winds, rain and flood warnings to Puerto Rico on Monday,
Puerto Rico is still recovering from the devastation of Hurricane Maria, which struck the island Sept. 20 as a Category 4 hurricane with maximum wind speeds of 155 mph. Maria also inflicted significant damage on Guadeloupe, Dominica and the U.S. Virgin Islands, all places expected to be drenched with rain by what remained of Beryl.
Through Tuesday, the storm was forecast to dump 2 to 3 inches of rain on the Leeward Islands, which separate the northeastern Caribbean Sea from the western Atlantic Ocean. The same amount was expected in the U.S. Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico, with up to 5 inches possible in some areas.
Meanwhile, Tropical Storm Chris was close to becoming a hurricane as it sat in the Atlantic Ocean over 200 miles off the coast of the Carolinas, according to an update Monday afternoon from the Hurricane Center.
As of 5 p.m. EDT Monday, Chris' maximum wind speeds were 70 mph. A hurricane is defined by wind speeds of 74 mph and higher.
Chris was expected to become a hurricane by Tuesday and head northeast toward Canada, prompting Canadian weather officials to also monitor the storm.
"By late Tuesday it is forecast to attain hurricane status," said a statement issued Monday by Environment Canada, that country's official government weather service. "At this time it appears this storm could approach Nova Scotia by Thursday, likely weakening slightly as it does so."
