Remnants of Hurricane Beryl could bring downpours to Ottawa-Gatineau

The tropical storm that's battered parts of the Caribbean and Texas has the potential to bring torrential downpours to eastern Ontario and Gatineau later this week, Environment Canada says.

On Monday afternoon, the agency issued special weather statements warning that rain associated with Hurricane Beryl could begin Tuesday night or Wednesday locally and may persist into Thursday.

Rainfall could reach rates of 20 to 40 mm per hour at times, with localized rainfall totals possibly topping 50 mm.

Although confidence in the exact track of the weather system is "low," these types of systems in the past have featured very high rainfall rates, the agency said.

Rainfall warnings may be issued as confidence in the track of the system increases.

Beryl passed through the Caribbean islands last week, becoming the earliest storm to develop into a Category 5 hurricane in the Atlantic Ocean.

The storm hit Texas on Monday as a Category 1 hurricane around 4 a.m. local time, according to the U.S. National Weather Service.