Storm

In the days before Bertha hit the Carolinas, forecasters and residents watched closely as the storm spun through the Caribbean. While the fading storm swept north yesterday with heavy rains, relieved officials said the East Coast had been lucky the damage was not worse.

The roller-bladers at right and the lads feeding the waterfowl below enjoy yesterday's balmy weather on Kelly Drive.

Storm was hot long before Halle Berry. Although being portrayed by arguably the hottest actress on the planet has obviously made her more famous, Storm has been a favorite of comic fans for decades. Storm was created in 1975 by Len Wein and Dave Cockrum. Her powers included flight and the ability to control and manipulate the elements. When these powers manifested themselves, she was worshipped as a goddess in her African homeland before journeying to America to join the X-Men.

Just 11 days after suffering massive damage from a storm that dropped no rain, the Jersey Shore was bracing today for another hit. The prediction: High winds, heavy rain, some flooding, high tides and beach erosion. And unlike the Oct. 31 storm, which caused the second-highest tide on record and at least $72 million in damage, this storm was expected to show its force inland, too. The last storm, which came from the northeast, resulted from a low- pressure system about 300 miles offshore; this low-pressure system, which comes from the south, will be much closer to land.

A storm packing high winds whipped through the Philadelphia area yesterday afternoon, knocking down trees and power lines and making rush hour miserable for thousands of commuters. Lincoln and Kelly drives and many other roads were blocked for a time by downed trees, and SEPTA suspended service on three of its seven regional rail lines. The storm also knocked out power to about 120,000 Philadelphia Electric Co. customers. The storm, which hit between 3:30 and 4 p.m., brought some flooding, but most of the damage was delivered by high winds.

HARTFORD, Conn. - Crews trying to restore power to hundreds of thousands of Northeasterners after a freak weekend snowstorm swept up the coast face a tough job, even with fair weather to work in. The wet, heavy snow that snapped branches and toppled trees across the region Saturday and Sunday brought down an extensive network of wiring, including sturdy, long-distance transmission lines and wires supplying individual homes. More than three million customers lost power at some point from Maryland to Maine, and authorities have said it could be next week before power is restored to the rest of the more than 1.7 million residents who are still in the dark.

Ridley Park did not escape when Friday's storm brought devastation to Delaware County. During the storm, Ridley Lake overflowed and a family had to be evacuated from its home in the 200 block of West Ridley Avenue, Councilman John Naugle told the Borough Council at its meeting Tuesday. The house and the occupants came through unscathed, Naugle added. At the other end of town, a manhole cover at the foot of the East Hinckley Avenue bridge was swept away and there was a blockage within the Central Delaware County Authority line.

Yesterday's wind-driven deluge interfered with communcations, made driving a nightmare, tipped over trees in the rain-softened earth and toppled power lines. But as bad as it was, it wasn't as bad as it could have been, said a National Weather Service meteorologist. By evening, 1.56 inches of rain had fallen at Philadelphia International Airport, and wind gusts of 56 mph were reported there, according to NWS. "It's not unusual to get two or three inches in coastal storms in the wintertime," said meteorlogist Ken Hagy.

Demolition work is under way in the aftermath of Thursday's storm, which was so fierce, it brought bricks down from a church spire and caused partial collapses of at least nine other buildings, the city's Department of Licenses and Inspections said. L&I spokesman Tom McNally said the largest building to collapse was a vacant commercial four-story brick building on Paul Street near Kinsey. The building was already in poor shape. L&I records showed it had been deemed a "dangerous case" in October 1991 and was reinspected just a few weeks ago. Then, inspectors found one wall partially collapsed and other parts of the building fractured and bulging.

Lightning struck a water tower at the old Frankford Arsenal last night, setting it ablaze, and heavy rains and winds left several hundred people without power, officials said. The water tower at the arsenal, 5600 Tacony Ave., sits atop a six-story building that houses the offices of the Pennsylvania Fish and Game Commission. The fire was limited to the tower, fire officials said. Fire dispatchers reported "a slew" of downed wires throughout the city, and a spokeswoman for Philadelphia Electric Co. said power outages occurred throughout Philadelphia and the suburbs.

PATRICE BERGERON tied it with 51 seconds left in regulation then scored the game-winner 6:05 into overtime last night to give Boston a 5-4 victory over the visiting Maple Leafs in Game 7 as the Bruins turned back Toronto's comeback with a rally of their own. Tuukka Rask stopped 24 shots for Boston, which led the best-of-seven series 3-1 before the Maple Leafs won two in a row to force a seventh game. Toronto opened a 4-1 lead in the third period of the decisive game, but Boston cut the deficit to two midway through the third period and then scored twice in the final 82 seconds to force overtime.

It has been a roller-coaster week for Methacton's baseball team. The Warriors opened a key three-game Pioneer Athletic Conference stretch with a win over Division I-bound righthander A.J. Bogucki and Boyertown. Then, in a big letdown, they fell to Perkiomen Valley. Friday afternoon in Worcester, scoring three runs in each of their last two at-bats, catcher Clayton Harwick and company closed with an 11-7 triumph over fellow title contender Spring-Ford. "It's been pretty wild this season," Harwick said.

For six weeks, Dr. Kermit Gosnell sat largely impassive, like an invited guest at his murder trial, offering an occasional smile while taking prodigious notes with a spring-green pen. And yet Gosnell is the center of the "firestorm," as his defense attorney, Jack McMahon, put it in closing arguments Monday, the vortex of the reignited abortion debate four decades after Roe v. Wade . No matter what the verdict, Gosnell has become the opportunity...

TWO OF THE top college quarterbacks in the country faced off at the Los Angeles Coliseum on Oct. 29, 2011, combining for 614 passing yards, six touchdown passes and 104 points. USC quarterbacks coach Clay Helton watched Stanford's Andrew Luck and the Trojans' Matt Barkley lead their teams up and down the field, Stanford ultimately winning, 56-48, in triple overtime. "You knew it was a really special time," Helton said yesterday. "That you were looking at some guys that were - wow, these are two really special athletes out here.

TRIPOLI, Libya - Libya's prime minister warned of a perilous security situation Sunday after armed men stormed the Interior Ministry and a state-owned television station after blocking access to the Foreign Ministry. Two years after the country's civil war, Libya is struggling to maintain security, build a unified army and rein in militias, which include rebels who fought to oust longtime dictator Moammar Gadhafi in 2011. About 200 armed men surrounded the Foreign Ministry building in Tripoli, demanding the ministry hire former fighters who helped overthrow Gadhafi.

BAGHDAD - Security forces stormed a Sunni protest camp in northern Iraq on Tuesday, sparking deadly clashes in several towns and sharply intensifying rage at the Shiite-led government. The unrest and a spate of other attacks, mostly targeting Sunni mosques, killed at least 56 people. The violence could mark an ominous turning point in the four-month Sunni protest movement, which is posing a stubborn challenge to Iraq's stability a decade after the toppling of Saddam Hussein. There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attacks on three Sunni mosques, and it was unclear whether there was any connection to the storming of the protest camp.

Alex Campbell drove in the game's first run with a single. He drove in the game-winning run with a sacrifice fly. But the Moorestown catcher's biggest contribution to his team's rousing, 6-4 victory over previously undefeated Rancocas Valley on Tuesday was a diving defensive play. Campbell scrambled to gather an errant pitch, then dived to tag out a runner at the plate for the key out in the seventh inning of a wild Burlco Liberty baseball game at the Red Devils' athletic complex in Eastampton.

English graphic designer Storm Thorgerson, 69, whose eye-catching album art for Pink Floyd and Led Zeppelin encapsulated the spirit of 1970s psychedelia, died Thursday. Mr. Thorgerson's family said that his death "was peaceful and he was surrounded by family and friends. " The statement gave few further details but said that the artist, who suffered a stroke in 2003, had been ill for some time. Mr. Thorgerson is best known for his surreal Pink Floyd covers, which guitarist David Gilmour said had long been "an inseparable part of our work.

MOGADISHU, Somalia - A barrage of bullets and two car bomb blasts rattled Mogadishu on Sunday when nine al-Shabab Islamic extremists stormed Somalia's main court complex, officials said, in a two-hour attack that shows the country's most dangerous militant group may be down but not defeated. A preliminary death toll stood at 16, including all nine attackers. The government didn't immediately publicize the number of security forces, government employees. and civilians who died. The assault was the most serious in Mogadishu since al-Shabab was forced out of the capital in August 2011.