
A hurricane watch was issued for St. Lucia as Tropical Storm Bret barreled toward the eastern Caribbean Thursday at near-hurricane strength.
The storm was located about 200 miles (320 kilometers) east of Barbados on Thursday morning and was moving west at 15 mph (24 kph). It had maximum sustained winds of 70 mph (110 kph), just below the 74 mph (119 kph) winds of a Category 1 hurricane.