The storm that soaked the Southeast is expected to douse western parts of Maine with several inches of rain Friday into Saturday, sparing coastal communities, which should receive an inch or less.

Early forecasts showed potential flooding throughout the state, but Debby was downgraded Thursday from a tropical storm to a tropical depression, easing its potential impact on the Northeast.

“We are still expecting a little bit of flooding in northern New Hampshire, but really outside of that we’re just looking at a rainy weekend,” said Jon Palmer, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service’s office in Gray. “The coast is likely going to luck out here.”

Greater Portland is slated to get around 0.75 inches of rain and Augusta around 1 inch, while some sections of the White Mountains could see more than 3 inches of rain, he said during a phone call Thursday afternoon.

Skowhegan and Rumford are both forecasted to get more than an inch of rain between Friday morning and Saturday night, the weather service said.

“It’ll probably be raining by the time you wake up” Friday, Palmer said. He said rain would start to form between midnight Thursday and sunrise.

Palmer said Maine likely will see scattered thunderstorms throughout the day Friday, but the heaviest rain will come Friday night. Parts of the Midcoast will still experience some rain Saturday morning, he said, but most of the state should be through the storm by then.

“The only thing that we are concerned about is the potential for inland flash flooding,” Palmer said.

This has been a particularly rainy year for Maine, Palmer said, leaving much of the state’s inland soil saturated with water and unable to absorb much more. Palmer said last summer was the wettest on record in Maine, triggering almost-daily flash flooding in waterlogged areas.

“We’re pretty saturated,” Palmer said. “If there’s a storm, or if an area gets a lot of heavy rain over a short period of time, there’s definitely some concern.”

Palmer said forecasters do not expect Debby to cause rivers or other waterways to significantly rise. He added that the storm is not expected to compound with the tides, which will remain relatively low during the storm.