"We dodged the bullet," said Shawn Harley, a meteorologist at the National Weather Service office in Jackson. "We're getting a lot of rain out of this, but not as much as we could have gotten."

Authorities spent much of the week preparing for the worst. They practiced evacuation drills and warned residents to be ready when it appeared the heaviest rain from Ivan would linger in eastern Kentucky for two days, creating the potential for up to 12 inches of rain in some places.

"It's fortunate that the remains of Ivan that brought the rain to us will be moving on out this evening," Harley said.

Stacy Floden, spokeswoman for Kentucky Emergency Management, said lowland flooding was reported in some areas of eastern Kentucky. But two emergency shelters opened Friday went unused. A shelter in Menifee County closed at 3 p.m., and another at West Carter Elementary School had no occupants Friday, officials said.

"We're going to continue to evaluate throughout the day, but as of right now there is some flooding in eastern Kentucky but nothing like we could have gotten."

Officials did declare a local state of emergency in five counties: Whitley, Owsley, Menifee, Bath and Laurel.

Some school districts in eastern Kentucky called off classes on Friday because locally heavy downpours pushed small streams out of their banks and over roadways. A state police dispatcher in Pikeville said no flooding had been reported in the mountainous area along Kentucky's eastern border with West Virginia.

Harley said the center of the storm stayed east of Kentucky, and moved much quicker than expected. The forecast for Saturday calls for mostly sunny skies in eastern Kentucky.

Still, Harley said, some flooding is a possibility along rivers that originate in the mountains. He said the Red River could crest above flood stage in Clay City, and that the Kentucky and Licking rivers are expected to crest near flood stage.

"The most likely spot that we could have river flooding will be Clay City," he said.

In Pike County, authorities spent the week planning for a weather disaster, identifying potential shelters and evacuation routes.

"We were told to prepare for the worst and hope for the best," said Pike County Emergency Management Director Doug Tackett. "Seems to be turning out for the best."

Tackett said if the rainfall originally forecast had arrived, the region would have suffered from considerable river flooding.

"It looked really grim for a while," he said. "We still anticipate some minor flooding in low-lying areas, possibly some road closings in areas prone to high water."