And even though a monitoring buoy northwest of Kaua'i recorded a gust of 54 mph early yesterday, winds remained light this morning, said forecaster Robert Ballard.

The swath of thunderstorms is expected to reach O'ahu today, with the potential for several inches of rain if it stalls, he said.

"We are starting to think that the stronger winds will be associated with localized thunderstorms," Ballard said.

He would not completely rule out the downslope winds that were forecast for today — or even a localized gust of 60 mph.

"I don't think we will see winds as strong as we thought," he said. "Some of the stronger thunderstorms will have gusts of over 50 mph. I don't think most places will see that."

Rain is a certainty, though. The weather service says the chances are "100 percent." The swath of rain is so large, it fills most of the weather service radar scope, Ballard said.

"I think the rain is what people will notice the most with this system now," he said. "It is going to be pretty wet overall."

Civil defense and emergency response personnel on O'ahu and Kaua'i are gearing up for potential weather-related problems.

"Our fire department people are happy because it will be a wet and rainy fireworks night," said Mark Marshall of Kaua'i Civil Defense. "But they are the only people happy at this point."

This week's storm hit Ni'ihau yesterday afternoon and heavy rain was falling on Kaua'i by 6 p.m.. Princeville Airport got 3.59 inches of rain from 2 to 8 p.m., but the Kaua'i Fire Department said it received no reports of weather-related mishaps. It was raining steadily on Kaua'i this morning but the worst of the rain was over the ocean.

City maintenance crews on O'ahu have been clearing streams and are keeping a close watch on them, said John Cummings, public relations officer for Oah'u Civil Defense.

Residents noticing rising streams or experiencing storm damage should call 911, he said.

Emergency Medical Services, the paramedics on O'ahu, have added two ambulance teams to handle an expected increase in alcohol- and weather-related accidents tonight, and the police department, fire department and local hospital emergency rooms have regular recall and contingency measures in place.

Hawaiian Electric Co. is augmenting its crews and advising residents to stock up on canned food and have battery-powered flashlights and radios on hand.

University of Hawai'i personnel, still hurting from devastating flooding and heavy rains in October, were taking whatever precautions they could.

"What we've done is put up plastic funnels so the water that does leak goes into buckets," said Jean Ehrhorn, associate university librarian, in overseeing storm preparations at badly damaged Hamilton Library.

Aside from the catastrophic damage to the library's basement, its collections and staff offices because of the Oct. 30 Manoa flood, the building has a number of leaks in its oldest section.

"There are some roof leaks there on the old side of the building, Phase 1, of the third floor built in the 1960s," said Ehrhorn.

She said workers are caulking the leaks and moving the inventory to drier areas.

UH personnel also have checked the Manoa bridges to make sure they're clear of debris, as part of procedures conducted with the state, city and county.

Part of the cause of the Oct. 30 flooding that wreaked up to $100 million in damage to the UH campus was debris clogging bridges and nearby hurricane fences, forcing raging stream waters to jump their banks.

Meanwhile, roofing companies, still overbooked after the January storm, are getting calls from residents concerned about limiting damage from this one.

Cover All Roofing and Repair is doing all it can, said Dave Stone, the company's owner.

"They heard about the storm and we've had a lot of calls," Stone said. "There's not any problem with their roof. They're asking us to do extra to make sure that nothing blows off."