LEWISTON – As Hurricane Kyle neared Maine, local officials readied for little more than wind and rain.

“I think we’re going to stay pretty safe,” said Joanne Potvin, director of the Androscoggin Unified Emergency Management Agency. “It seems that the real effects are going to be at the coast.”

A rare hurricane watch was issued for parts of Downeast Maine while meteorologists with the National Weather Service upgraded Kyle late Saturday from a tropical storm to a full-fledged hurricane, predicting the slowly spinning storm would strike land in New Brunswick on Sunday evening.

“Hurricane season isn’t over, ” said Maine Emergency Management Agency director Rob McAleer. “It’s been a very active season.”

It was Maine’s first hurricane watch in 17 years, according to the National Weather Service.

At 5 p.m., Kyle was centered about 315 miles west-northwest of Bermuda and 485 miles south of Nantucket, Mass., according to the National Hurricane Center in Miami.

The storm had top sustained winds near 75 mph and became a Category 1 hurricane Saturday afternoon. It was moving north over the open Atlantic at 23 mph.

The hurricane center posted a hurricane watch from Stonington to Eastport, on the border with New Brunswick, Canada. A tropical storm warning extended from Port Clyde to Eastport. A tropical storm watch extended from Port Clyde to Cape Elizabeth.

A hurricane watch means hurricane conditions, with winds of at least 74 mph, are possible within 36 hours. A tropical storm warning means conditions for that type of storm, with winds of 39 to 73 mph, are expected within the next 24 hours. A tropical storm watch means those conditions are possible within 36 hours.

Locally, a flood watch included most of Androscoggin, Oxford and Franklin counties, Hayes said.

By the storm’s end, the rain totals here would likely reach three to six inches.

Conditions are predicted to be more tumultuous along the coast, where Sunday morning and evening high tides could be damaging, said meteorologist John Jensenius, who also works at the Gray weather office.

“Maine is not getting it easy,” Jensenius said. “This is pretty significant.”

Saturday’s rain was merely a tropical moisture side-effect of Kyle, Hayes said.

Locally, police saw few weather-related problems. One planned outdoor event – a downtown Lewiston concert sponsored by the League of Young Voters – was moved inside to She Doesn’t Like Guthries Restaurant on Middle Street, league spokeswoman Katie Diamond said.

Meanwhile, Potvin watched weather forecasts.

“If it’s needed, we’ll open the Emergency Operation Center,” Potvin said, referring to her office and headquarters beneath Lewiston’s central fire station.

After several teleconferences with weather experts, she figured the effect here would be minimal.

Some small streams that have a tendency to rise quickly may rise again Sunday. Gusts of wind may hit 20 or 25 miles an hour, she said.

“It should be about the same as a number of summertime storms we had this year,” Potvin said of the local effects.