Beryl expected to regain hurricane strength before hitting southern Texas

Tropical Storm Beryl is expected to regain its hurricane strength before hitting southern Texas late Sunday, the National Hurricane Center said.

The storm weakened after hitting Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula as a Category 2 hurricane on Friday . But as it crosses over the warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico it will grow to hurricane status again.

The National Hurricane Center has issued a hurricane watch for the Texas coast from the mouth of the Rio Grande River northward to San Luis Pass. A tropical storm warning is in place south of Baffin Bay and for northeastern Mexico.

As of Saturday morning, Beryl was churning 460 miles southeast of Corpus Christi with sustained winds of 60 mph. A turn to the northwest is expected later Saturday before reaching Texas by late Sunday night into early Monday morning.

"The combination of storm surge and tide will cause normally dry areas near the coast to be flooded by rising waters moving inland from the shoreline," the National Hurricane Center, adding some areas of southern Texas could see a maximum storm surge of five feet.

Rainfall totals could be anywhere from 5 to 10 inches across portions of the Texas Gulf Coast during the storm.