South prepares for up to 20 inches of rain from Hurricane Ivan

<p>Predictions of Hurricane Ivan stalling out for days inland and dumping up to 20 inches of rain on the southern Appalachian Mountains has led to early dam releases, sand bagging, school closings, and other precautions in anticipation of severe flooding.</p><p>After the hurricane makes landfall on the Gulf coast Thursday and heads north, it is expected to bring perhaps its heaviest rains to the mountains, where up to 20 inches is possible by Saturday morning in western North Carolina and up to a foot in north Georgia, upstream from Atlanta.</p><p>The National Weather Service wouldn't speculate on how much more rain could fall after that as the outlook indicates the storm could remain parked over the area until at least Monday, with its eye near Chattanooga, Tenn.</p><p>"With the amounts they are talking about, it could be real bad," said Tim Miller, the western coordinator for the North Carolina Division of Emergency Management.</p><p>Authorities warned that residents in the mountains in north Georgia, Tennessee and the Carolinas to be prepared to seek higher ground. Meanwhile, the Tennessee Valley Authority and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers were releasing water from dams to reduce the likelihood of flooding. Atlanta and other cities were clearing storm drains of leaves and debris.</p><p>"Most of our lakes ... all appear to be in good shape _ they have lots of flood storage available, but that's not to say if we had 20 inches of rain they would necessarily contain it all," said Rob Holland with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in Atlanta.</p><p>Meteorologists quickly revised rainfall estimates for the area after projections for Ivan showed that the hurricane would not move out of the Southeast as quickly as once thought. Up to 8 inches of rain was predicted for parts of Georgia outside the mountains, including Atlanta and Athens.</p><p>Still cleaning up after last weekend's flooding from the remnants of Hurricane Frances, western North Carolina did not welcome predictions of as much as 15 to 20 inches of rain and widespread power outages. Already, 15 counties in the areas were declared disaster areas because of the effects of Frances.</p><p>In Haywood County, N.C., prison inmates were enlisted to help pack sand into plastic bags while officials in the towns of Canton and Clyde prepared evacuation plans.</p><p>"The last thing we're going to do is to just pray," Canton Mayor Pat Smathers said. "There's some things we can do and then we have to hope for the best."</p><p>Schools in some Georgia counties, including several along the Chattahoochee River in the Atlanta area, canceled classes Thursday and Friday, and postponed high school football games and homecoming dances. College football games in Tennessee, Georgia and the Carolinas remained scheduled.</p><p>Much of the area was placed under a flood watch. Chattanooga, which typically gets only 14 inches of rain in the month of September, could get more than 10 inches, forecasters predicted. The city's record for any 24-hour period is 7.6 inches in March 1886.</p><p>With schools in LaGrange, Ga., were closed and city crews scrambling to cut down tree limbs near power lines, Mayor Jeff Lukken said the community knew what to expect. In 1995, Hurricane Opal toppled trees throughout LaGrange, causing week-long power outages and blocking roads that prevented emergency vehicles from helping citizens.</p><p>This time, LaGrange will be ready. He said backup generators are being placed to power the city's police and fire departments. Extra gasoline is being stockpiled for emergency vehicles. Ambulances are being strategically placed around the west Georgia city of 27,000 so this time, all of them won't get stuck in one place when the storm hits.</p><p>"Opal has taught us a lot. Ivan's probably going to affect us as strong or stronger than Opal did," Lukken said. "I think the better prepared we are, the less our citizens will feel it."</p><p>___</p><p>Associated Press correspondent Bill Poovey in Chattanooga, Tenn., and reporters Woody Baird in Memphism, Tenn., and Paul Nowell in Charlotte, N.C., contributed to this report.</p>

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