RALEIGH - After a week of nail-biting, Triangle residents shouldn't expect more than a few inches of rain and an occasional gust out of Tropical Storm Hanna, which starts to strike just after lunchtime today.

The real monster is growing offshore, right behind Hanna: Hurricane Ike, with winds clocked above 130 mph.

"That's a real heavy-hitter," said Brandon Vincent, meteorologist with the National Weather Service office in Raleigh.

Gov. Mike Easley declared a state of emergency Thursday until both storms have passed.

But the threat from Hanna has diminished to 5 inches of rain in spots east of the Triangle that are expected to be the hardest-hit, half the drenching that was predicted Wednesday.

Declaring an emergency is largely meant to secure federal help cleaning up debris.

Easley warned that even the roughly 2 inches expected in the Triangle can trigger flash-flooding if it falls quickly enough.

"Everybody in North Carolina pay attention the next couple of weeks," he said. "We're in storm season."

Hanna was expected to make landfall somewhere near Brunswick County on Saturday morning, but the outer bands of rain should start dropping over the Triangle this afternoon.

The storm, which has hovered over the Bahamas for much of the week, fighting northwest winds, wasn't serious enough to cancel Raleigh Wide Open, a downtown celebration expected to draw thousands tonight and Saturday.

"We've just got to batten down our tents," city spokeswoman Jayne Kirkpatrick said.

The Army Corps of Engineers didn't plan to release any water from Falls or Jordan lakes in advance of the storm and has said there is ample flood storage capacity in both Triangle reservoirs. Managers were waiting to see how much water falls downstream of the dams and how quickly it clears.

Meanwhile, Progress Energy was moving its crews from Western North Carolina to the coast to handle storm-downed power lines.

Easley said the storm's biggest punch will smack Greenville, Washington and Elizabeth City -- all east of Interstate 95.

Friday, 270 members of the National Guard and 18 squadrons of the state Highway Patrol will be deployed to help with rescues, along with other teams.

The governor repeated past warnings to citizens: Have food, fuel, cash and clothing ready in case you need to leave. Don't drive across flooded roads.

But emergency officials are already worried that a stronger Hurricane Ike will cause greater harm with soil already wet to the tree roots from Hanna's rains.

Some tropical storm rain will help ease drought conditions and put out a persistent Hyde County fire. But, he added, "We just don't want to get too much too fast."

Ike, a Category 4 storm, is still too far out in the Atlantic for forecasters to predict landfall, but it seems to be following Hanna's path.

Vincent with the National Weather Service described Ike as "impressive," though he said Hanna had shown tenacity all week.

"That's why we can't count it out," he said. "It's a survivor."

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