Limbs

Storm experts are saying this Atlantic hurricane season could be worse than usual. But it doesn't take more than a thunderstorm with strong wind, or even a low-intensity winter squall, to send tree limbs crashing down onto property. Why not do some preventive tree maintenance? Here are tips from a variety of sources. Need to know: University of Georgia professor Kim Coder says trees are engineered to adjust to wind loading - that is, a breeze from one direction applied evenly over the stem, branches and tree leaves.

Yesterday, the trees were not your friend. Ice-crusted limbs were the culprits that took out power lines throughout the Philadelphia region, causing about 100,000 homes in the Pennsylvania suburbs to lose power at the peak of yet another major wintry blast. By the time the assault of freezing rain let up amid rising temperatures by the middle of the day, Amtrak's busy Northeast Corridor service between Philadelphia and New York had been knocked out for a time, and more than 100 suburban districts canceled yet another school day. But the biggest lasting local impact from the outer edge of the same 2,000-mile monster storm that caused a blizzard in Chicago and ripped apart the roof of fabled Wrigley Field were the widespread power outages - some of which lasted into today.

They are the new bionic soldiers. Once given honorable discharges, amputees are regaining remarkable mobility with new prosthetics, and some are even choosing to return to the battlefield in Afghanistan and Iraq. U.S. troops who have lost one leg - or two - can walk, run and even swim with high-tech, computerized limbs. Arms and hands are replaced by prosthetics controlled by sensors that react to electronic impulses from undamaged muscles. The war in Iraq has claimed the lives of nearly 2,000 U.S. service members, but it has also drastically altered life for hundreds more who have lost limbs.

A storm that blustered up the East Coast left more than 175,000 customers without power in New England yesterday and littered highways and railroad tracks with tree limbs on one of the year's busiest travel days. The Jersey Shore was largely spared, however. High winds knocked over the 50-foot, 7,300-pound Christmas tree outside the Prudential Center in Boston. Crews waited for the wind to die down before trying to put it back up. "The storm was stronger than we expected.

PennDot will be revving up its chainsaws this month to tear into the 300-year-old sycamore tree near the Brandywine River. But only half the tree will go. In what officials said was the only viable compromise, the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation will severely prune the ancient tree on South Creek Road. The thick - and potentially hazardous - limbs that stretch over the road will go, leaving about 50 percent of the canopy intact, said Kevin Munley, PennDot's roadside manager for the region.

It left as quickly as it came. By today, only crippled evergreens and downed limbs will remain of the worst winter storm of the season, which hit, by the way, 10 days after winter's end. The long-term cost to the homeowner: The storm probably did its worst damage to small trees just beginning to flower, such as magnolias and cherries. Hardier trees might have lost some limbs. And experts say the storm should cause no lasting damage to area lawns. In fact, the bright greens returned so quickly yesterday that it was hard to believe that stinging, howling winds and blinding snows had fallen in much of the region from late morning Monday to yesterday morning.

It started as a rescue mission to save a stray cat named Ugly. But the Good Samaritans' canoe capsized, forcing rescue workers to pluck the pair from the rain-swollen Brandywine River in Concord Township, Delaware County. "When I got home, I got hollered at: 'What were you thinking?' " Steven Menasion said his wife asked him. Police said Menasion, 40, of Chadds Ford, was one of two canoeists who found themselves stranded on limbs and debris after their canoe collided with a tree.

About 1,500 houses in the Upper Darby and Morton areas were without power yesterday afternoon for more than two hours because of tree limbs that downed power lines, according to a Peco Energy Co. spokesman. "All it takes is one tree limb to pull down one wire and you can have 800 homes affected," said Peco spokesman David Hackney. "And when you have 40- to 50-mile-an-hour winds like we did today, you can expect problems. " Fortunately, Hackney said, the problems were not widespread and could be taken care of in a reasonably short time.

A giant's sad end: A tulip poplar, 45 inches in diameter, is cut down along Strausburg Road in East Goshen because it was dropping limbs and considered hazardous. Bustleton Services' Rudy Harfield (foreground) sharpens a saw while Mike Coleman removes debris.

LOS ANGELES - One shot clipped an ash tree and kept Phil Mickelson out of worse trouble than he was in. Another landed behind a Bottle Brush, blocking his path to the 10th green at Riviera. On yet another hole, Mickelson had to thread a 9-iron through the limbs of five eucalyptus trees. So when he walked into the gallery to find his tee shot on the 15th hole and saw a man flat on his back, Mickelson assumed the worst. "It wouldn't be the first time, so I thought for sure I took him out," Mickelson said Saturday.

As she gratefully watched Peco repairmen restore the transmission lines that had been out of commission for three weeks, Catherine Poole was sure that, one day soon, nature again would knock the lights out in her rural Chester County neighborhood. She was correct. That was in June 2010. Fourteen months later, she lost electricity for three days, courtesy of the remnants of Irene. Then she lost it for three more days with the surreal, prewinter storm of late October, which knocked out power to more than 300,000 in Southeastern Pennsylvania, 500,000 in New Jersey, and millions throughout the Northeast.

Four Penn State students were treated at a Montgomery County hospital this afternoon after they were struck by a falling tree branch at the university's Abington campus. The students, none of whom received life-threatening injuries, were transported to Abington Memorial Hospital for cuts and bruises, said deputy police chief John Livingood. An initial report stating the pupils were trapped was not true, Livingood said. The branch fell about 3:15 p.m. Within minutes, campus medical personnel were there to evaluate the students and provide medical care, said spokesman Chuck Marsh.

Vancouver midfielder Shea Salinas is looking forward to playing against his former teammates when the Whitecaps host the Union in Saturday's Major League Soccer matchup, and he's not afraid to offer some strong opinions on the outcome. "I think we will win, 3-1," Salinas said on a conference call with two Philadelphia-area reporters earlier this week. Isn't he worried about bulletin-board material? "They are a very talented team, and they don't need to use this as any motivation," he said.

A 65-year-old Devon man was killed Thursday afternoon by a falling tree limb as he sat on a bench beside the Radnor Trail in Radnor Township, Delaware County. According to Police Superintendent William A. Colarulo, the 45-foot-long branch struck and fatally injured the victim about 3 p.m. Hearing the limb splinter, a 17-year-old hiker tried to revive the man with CPR, Colarulo said. The man, whose identity was being withheld pending notification of family, was pronounced dead a short time later at Bryn Mawr Hospital.

ARGYLE, Texas - In a scene worthy of a Walt Disney film, a trio of protective llamas, two curious goats, and another miniature horse crowd around while a tiny prosthetic limb is fitted to Midnite's deformed hind leg. Bob Williams strokes the 4-year-old miniature horse, puts head to heart for a "bonding moment," gives him a smooch, and turns him loose. Midnite takes a few tentative steps and then breaks into a joyous gallop, weaving among the other once-neglected creatures at Ranch Hand Rescue, a nonprofit sanctuary started by Williams for special-needs animals.

When Delaware County firefighter Chase Frost was trapped under six feet of rubble in a blazing building, suffering burns that went down to the bone, it could easily have been the end. Instead, he survived to take a step into the future. Make that many steps - powered by a lithium-polymer battery. Frost, whose right leg and left arm were so damaged in the August 2007 fire that they had to be amputated, was fitted last month with a new kind of motorized prosthetic knee. He is one of more than 30 amputees worldwide to get such a device, which senses when he wants to take a step and then, using internal motors, lifts the heel and extends the leg forward.

Radiohead are masters of surprise. Going back to Kid A , the 2000 album that followed 1997's prog-rock landmark OK Computer with a left turn into ambient-electronic experimentation, the acclaimed British quintet have grown practiced at turning every release into an event that catches their fan base unawares. Last time around, with 2007's In Rainbows , the Thom Yorke-fronted band of Oxford townies got everybody's attention by releasing their music - at first, anyway - as a pay-what-you-wish download, embracing a music-should-be-free ethos they could well afford, having already spent a decade selling millions of CDs and packing arenas.

Rock gods Radiohead reign supreme, but new releases from Adele, Lauren Pritchard and Steve Riley also vie for attention. THE FUTURE OF MUSIC: Like its 2007 predecessor "In Rainbows," Radiohead's "The King of Limbs" (TBD Records, B+) is almost as interesting a marketing project as it is an album. The set was first announced in a band Tweet on Valentine's Day. It went on sale - online only at www.thekingoflimbs.com - last Friday, one day earlier than originally planned, priced at $9 in MP3 form and $14 as higher-quality WAV files.

Yesterday, the trees were not your friend. Ice-crusted limbs were the culprits that took out power lines throughout the Philadelphia region, causing about 100,000 homes in the Pennsylvania suburbs to lose power at the peak of yet another major wintry blast. By the time the assault of freezing rain let up amid rising temperatures by the middle of the day, Amtrak's busy Northeast Corridor service between Philadelphia and New York had been knocked out for a time, and more than 100 suburban districts canceled yet another school day. But the biggest lasting local impact from the outer edge of the same 2,000-mile monster storm that caused a blizzard in Chicago and ripped apart the roof of fabled Wrigley Field were the widespread power outages - some of which lasted into today.