UPDATE:

At 11:00 PM EDT..The National Hurricane Center has downgraded Kyle to a tropical storm. After lashing Nova Scotia with ferocious winds and rain...Kyle is now packing winds of 70 mph...and is moving northward at 23 mph.

This course will take Kyle across Nova Scotia into New Brunswick, Canada.

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Hurricane Kyle is pounding the southern tip of Nova Scotia with ferocious winds and driving rain.

At 8PM EDT...Hurricane Kyle was a minimal Category 1 storm with maximum sustained winds of 75 mph...with forward movement to the north at 30 mph.

WInds and rain will continue to lash Nova Scotia...with the center of Kyle expected to move over New Brunswick, Canada later tonight.

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At 5PM EDT...Hurricane Kyle had maximum sutained winds of 75 mph... and was located about 100 miles from the southern tip of Nova Scotia.

Kyle is moving over colder waters and will start to lose tropical characteristics tonight...but heavy wind and rain will be felt from down east Maine into the Canadian Maritimes.

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EASTPORT, Maine (AP) -- Hurricane Kyle raced toward Nova Scotia and the Gulf of Maine early Sunday, triggering Maine's first hurricane watch in 17 years as it roared over the Atlantic off New Jersey on a northward trek that threatened to bring flooding and damaging winds inland.

Kyle could make landfall in the Canadian provinces of Nova Scotia or New Brunswick, possibly late Sunday, according the National Hurricane Center in Miami. A hurricane watch was issued for southwestern Nova Scotia, and a tropical storm warning was in effect for southern New Brunswick.

Forecasters also issued a tropical storm warning and hurricane watch Saturday for parts of coastal Maine, where Kyle could cause conditions similar to a New England nor'easter.

"Since Saturday, it has picked up in intensity, but it has also stabilized," said Joseph Hewitt, a Maine-based senior forecaster for the National Weather Service.

He said Kyle's track was expected to continue northward and start to veer in a northeasterly direction toward Maine, then through the Bay of Fundy to Nova Scotia.

Authorities expect wind gusts in Maine to reach up to 60 mph and waves up to 20 feet, said Robert McAleer, Maine Emergency Management Agency director.

People living on coastal islands were advised to evacuate if they depend on electricity for medical reasons, because ferry service will probably shut down Sunday, McAleer said. Significant power failures on the north coastal region of the state were also expected, he said.

"There's going to be some beach erosion," he said. "Our southern coastline is susceptible to beach erosion; the northern coastline is more rocky."

McAleer warned that coastal flooding could be a problem and said some hospitals in vulnerable areas had started sandbagging. Another major threat is small stream flooding, he said.

"We urge everyone to pay close attention to weather warnings and stay away from any flooded roadways or fast-running streams," he said.

It was Maine's first hurricane watch in 17 years, the National Weather Service said. Elsewhere in New England, a hurricane warning was posted for Nantucket Island off the coast of Massachusetts in September 1996, according to the Weather Service office in Taunton, Mass.

At 2 a.m. EDT Sunday, Kyle was centered about 205 miles southeast of Nantucket, according to the National Hurricane Center in Miami.

With top sustained winds of almost 75 mph, the Category 1 hurricane was moving over the open Atlantic at 24 mph. A turn toward the north-northeast was expected later Sunday.

"Expectations are that it will start to weaken as it comes into the cold waters by Sunday evening," Hewitt said.

Kyle's center was forecast to pass east of Cape Cod, Mass., and approach the coast of Maine and the Canadian Maritimes on Sunday night or early Monday, the Hurricane Center said.

All told, weather watches or warnings stretched along the entire Maine coast.

Kyle was expected to trigger tides of 1 to 2 feet above normal, accompanied by large, damaging waves, the Hurricane Center said.

The Hurricane Center posted a hurricane watch from Stonington, at roughly the center of the Maine coast, to Eastport, on the border with the Canadian province of New Brunswick. A tropical storm warning extended from Port Clyde, about 50 miles northeast of Portland, to Eastport. A tropical storm watch extended from Port Clyde to Cape Elizabeth, an area that includes Portland, Maine's largest city.

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.

The Weather Service also issued flood watches for the southern two-thirds of New Hampshire and southern Maine through Sunday evening.

The Coast Guard urged sailors to seek safe haven, saying the storm may hinder their ability to respond to emergencies.