Rain should start falling locally late Thursday night and could continue through Sunday. The brunt of the rain likely will fall Friday and Saturday, bringing upwards of 3 inches to Rock Hill.

"I wouldn't be surprised to see that go up," said John Tomko, a National Weather Service meteorologist, citing Ivan's slow movement.

The highest rainfall on the East Coast looks to be in the North Carolina mountains near Boone, where more than 8 inches is expected. This comes after Hurricane Frances dumped heavy rains in the mountains last week, which caused widespread flooding.

Depending on Ivan's speed, showers could linger here into Monday or Tuesday, Tomko said.

With another deluge expected, Duke Power officials are working to lower water levels at several Duke-owned lakes, including Lake Wateree, which is still over capacity after last week's rain. Officials have "moved water" by producing more electricity and opening floodgates, among other actions, Duke spokeswoman Valerie Patterson said.

"Some of the levels have gone down pretty significantly" at Duke lakes, Patterson said, but Wateree will remain above capacity through the week. With that in mind, Duke officials urge people living in flood-prone areas to pay attention to forecasts and announcements from local emergency officials.

Meanwhile, local emergency officials say they're keeping watch and staying prepared, which has become old hat of late. That mostly means making sure systems and equipment are ready to go should the weather get rough.

Officials last year began tracking hurricanes with a five-day forecast instead of the long-used three-day track. The five-day tracks allow for more preparation, but also create a greater margin for error, officials say. The greater sense of preparation seen lately with Hurricanes Charley and Frances can be attributed to the longer-term projections, which some say are more for TV news than emergency officials.

"The five-day out is just an educated good guess," said Cotton Howell, York County emergency management director. "That's something the media has wanted."

As for York County's preparations, "We're doing the same things we've done for the last storms," Howell said.

Rock Hill officials met this week to go over their Ivan game plan, which includes dealing with possible power outages and cleaning up debris, city spokeswoman Jane Alleva said.

The city on Thursday will begin airing a series of storm tips on Channel 19, giving residents information that includes how to deal with power outages and downed lines and what to do during a tornado. The segments will air through Sunday, or "however long we need it for this weather," Alleva said.

Jason Foster • 329-4066

jfoster@heraldonline.com

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Lake levels are available on Duke Power's Web site, http://www.dukepower.com/ or by calling Duke's 24-hour Lake Neighbor Information Line at 1-800-829-LAKE. Lake levels are updated every 20 minutes.