Jonathan Barker, 6, of North Kingstown, watches the surfers yesterday from the pier area in Narragansett.

THE PROVIDENCE JOURNAL / John Freidah

Breaks in the rain kept the Pawtuxet River from exceeding its banks early last evening, but a flood watch is in effect through this morning.

Rhode Island will also just miss being in the path of a hurricane today, after Tropical Storm Kyle turned into a Category 1 hurricane yesterday afternoon, forecasters said. It is expected to pass 50 to 100 miles to the east of Nantucket today.

That’s the closest that the hurricane is forecast to come to Rhode Island, but the National Weather Service said the state will still feel the effects –– with about 1 to 2 inches of rainfall and wind speeds of 15 to 20 mph today.

That’s on top of the 1 to 3 inches of rain the state was expected to receive last night.

“We’re geared up and prepared for it, but it [the rain] is cooperating with us so far,” Warwick police Lt. Jeffrey Enos said shortly after 7 p.m.

Cranston police officers said all eyes are on the river, but the stop-and-go rain helped avoid major flooding on the roads as well. Only the usual streets in Cranston, such as Wilbur Avenue, had some problems.

Similar reports — wet roads, but no need to evacuate — were given in East Providence and Fall River. The Coast Guard and state police were not called to assist anywhere as of 8 last night.

The National Weather Service continued to watch for the flooding of small rivers and streams as well as the rising of the Blackstone and Pawtuxet rivers.

Last night’s advisory said higher amounts of rainfall were expected by daybreak across the state and Eastern Massachusetts into Hillsborough County in New Hampshire. It said the intermittent rain would lead to poor drainage along streets, and the worst effects to Route 95 would be over by 10 a.m. today.

“… Kyle may throw back a brief period of heavy rain on a small part of the Massachusetts coast late Sunday morning into Sunday afternoon,” it also warned, “… particularly Nantucket and outer Cape Cod.”

Rhode Island continues to be lucky.

It’s been 17 years since Hurricane Bob roared up the East Coast, the last hurricane to make landfall in Southern New England. Although Kyle is expected to spare Rhode Island, the hurricane season continues through the end of November.

“This is always a good reminder that we can have hurricanes come up here,” said Bob Thompson, the meteorologist-in-charge at the National Weather Service in Taunton. “It’s always good to be prepared.”

The Web site for the Rhode Island Emergency Management Agency has information on what you can do to prepare for a hurricane, at www.riema.ri.gov/preparenow/index.php

amilkovi@projo.com