The worst of Hurricane Sandy is expected to pass over York County Monday afternoon into Tuesday morning, bringing winds as high as 70 mph and dumping several inches of rain, said Bill Gartner, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in State College.

The weather service was expecting most areas in York to field rainfall at rates as high as 2 inches per hour, with total precipitation of 5 to 8 inches through Tuesday.

Localized areas, however, could receive as much as 10 or 11 inches, Edwards said, with some logging more rain than the nearly 11 inches dumped on the county last year during Tropical Storm Lee.

The soggy memory of Lee remains with Wrightsville, the first municipality in York to declare a disaster emergency related to Sandy. Mayor Neil Habecker signed the document on Saturday, before Sandy began to move into the area, to direct the borough's emergency management and other officials to do whatever necessary to mitigate the storm's damage.

With the Susquehanna River serving as its eastern boundary, much of the historic river town was flooded after Lee.

York County government offices, unlike the area's schools, were open for business Monday morning. County spokesman Carl Lindquist said at that time there were no reported road closures or flooding associated with the storm, but officials were prepared for conditions to deteriorate.

Wind: Edwards said the main part of the storm is expected to end about 2 a.m. Tuesday, with the core of the storm touching down on the New Jersey shore and following the Mason-Dixon Line as it moves inland.

That means northern Maryland and southern Pennsylvania, including York County, will bear the brunt of the storm, he said.

Sandy is transforming from a hurricane into a storm that has characteristics of a nor'easter, causing wind generated by the storm to be further spread out, he said.

"The wind is going to be the real danger, with tree limbs falling and possible power outages," Gartner said.

Sustained wind speeds of between 35 mph and 45 mph, with gusts of 60 mph, are expected, Edwards said.

The National Weather Service has issued a flood watch and a high wind warning for York and surrounding counties.

The flood watch began Sunday evening; the high wind warning began Monday morning. Both extend through Tuesday.

The flood watch means there is the potential for flooding along small streams and creeks, areas with poor drainage and in urban and low-lying areas.

With leaves still on the trees, the combination of rain and wind could lead to many downed trees and limbs and cause widespread power outages.