Corbett: ‘Breathing somewhat a sigh of relief’

9:49 p.m.

Gov. Corbett said he plans to tour parts Pennsylvania damaged by Sandy but didn't say where or when. He said more than a million people in the state still lacked power and three hospitals in eastern Pennsylvania were relying on generators. Five deaths so far have been blamed on the storm.

Overall, he said, even with the storm still zigzagging across the state, the recovery has gone faster than expected. "We are breathing somewhat a sigh of relief. I'll be breathing a bigger sigh of relief when power is back on."

- Amy Worden

7:53 p.m.

Gov. Christie tonight said fresh water is precious and should be used primarily for drinking and food preparation and not other things.

"Preserve as much water as you can," he added.

Other announcements: water needs to be boiled before use in Atlantic City, New Brunswick and Independence, in Warren County; state offices will be closed on Wednesday to give highway crews a chance to do more cleanup.

"Hang in there," said Christie noting it's time for recovery to start, following a time for sorrow. "We need to feel it and take it in. As long as sorrow doesn't displace resilience then we'll be just fine."

- Matt Katz

6:30 p.m.

When the first PATCO train pulled out of the Camden station at 6 p.m., Daren Young was on it, ready to go. Young, a construction worker, had received a call 90 minutes earlier from his girlfriend, who lives in Philadelphia, telling him that the commuter line which had been out of service because of the hurricane, was coming back to life.

Half an hour later, he emerged at the Market Street exit, happy to be going over to his sweetheart's apartment to watch television and hang out.

The couple's 24-hour separation, "wasn't too bad," Young said. "We were able to talk on the phone."

Both he and his girlfriend watched the lights flicker a few times but neither one lost power.

"We're spoiled," he said.

The cars were moderately crowded, he said. Among his fellow passengers was a man who would give only his first name, Frank, for cautionary reasons.

He had been unable to get to work because he relies on both NJ Transit buses and the PATCO train, but was afraid to claim a failure of transportation on his absence Tuesday. "I called in sick," he admitted. And although a reasonable boss should have understood the problem, he said, "They're looking for any excuse to fire you these days."

Frank would have liked to visit his girlfriend, but she was taking care of her mother Tuesday night in North Philadelphia. "So I'm taking myself to the Ritz to see a movie," he said. "All by my lonesome."

6:09 p.m.

In Ventnor Heights, firefighters and police are going door to door urging people to leave and taking an inventory of who is left. Residents were being told that they should leave because it could take two weeks before power was restored.

- Amy Rosenberg

6:05 p.m.

Ocean City

The wife of former Flyers star Rick MacLeish reported that she, her husband and their dog, Gus, survived Hurricane Sandy on Monday - and even had a visit from a fish.

Rick MacLeish and his wife, Charlene, are year-round residents of Ocean City, N.J., and they disregarded Gov. Christie's orders to evacuate the island. Instead, they stayed in their Bay Avenue home and waited out the hurricane.

Charlene MacLeish said there was minor damage to the home, noting that a small part of a stucco wall at the bottom of the house came off.

"But there were no other issues," she said on Tuesday.

At one point, Charlene MacLeish said she opened a door at the bottom of the house - it leads to the stairway entrance - and some water surged in, along with a fish. "It looked like a big minnow," she said, laughing.

She said about four feet of water entered their garage, but that it was gone after high tide went down.

"I'm glad we stayed because our electricity never went out," she said. "We probably shouldn't have stayed, but we're comfortable being in our own house. It was empty around here. No one else was around."

Except for their cockapoo. And a fish.

- Sam Carchidi

5:57 p.m.

Philadelphia

By 1 p.m. Tuesday, many of the families, single folks and homeless people who took refuge at the city shelter at West Philadelphia High School had begun bundling their belongings and making plans to head back home. But for Lena Connely, 70, heading home was easier said than done.

"What an experience this was. A cop drove me to this shelter," she said Tuesday afternoon. She left her South Philadelphia home near 12th and Morris streets because her deck roof began leaking and a neighbor told her 20 inches of rain was coming.

Connely, however, did have fond memories of the shelter. "Mayor Nutter was here Sunday. He shook my hand. I told him we had no food - he got us food fast," she laughed.

Tyra Leverett, 31, and her daughters, Zoe, 11, and Zuri, 4, left their Upper Darby home Monday morning after utility poles, trash cans and debris started littering nearby streets. "I'd rather be safe than sorry," Leverett, a hair stylist, said of why she uprooted her girls for the shelter. "They pumped (the storm) up pretty good. They got me scared," she said of the media.

- Mensah M. Dean

5:19 p.m.

Atlantic City

Cleanup began in some parts of Atlantic City Tuesday afternoon after Hurricane Sandy swept through the night before, bringing in heavy flooding and high winds and scattering portions of the Boardwalk through the streets toward the north end of the island.

Bulldozers worked to dig out a swath of land next to an older, already-damaged section of the Boardwalk that had succumbed to the waves Monday, causing extensive damage to several houses nearby and burying lots under a foot and a half of sand in some places. Street signs whipped in the wind - which was still strong even after the brunt of the storm had passed - and downed trees littered blocks near the city's marina. Near two buildings right next to the demolished Boardwalk, firefighters stretched caution tape in front of a cluster of downed wires and checked basements for gas leaks.

Fire personnel said the department hadn't seen any major fires Tuesday, but that firefighters were swamped with calls from returning residents who had arrived home to flooded basements and debris-strewn lawns.

Police said they'd reported to the scene of one shooting, at the corner of Vermont and Oriental Streets. The victim was taken to a hospital and an update was not immediately available on their condition. Police hadn't yet found a suspect or a weapon, and they said they believed the incident was not related to the storm. They did, however, note a spike in calls about break-ins Tuesday afternoon, and fielded 19 calls on burglaries during the storm itself.

A travel ban was technically still in effect Tuesday - as was a 6 p.m. curfew - but many residents were out on the streets, surveying the damage and stocking up on food at what few stores remained open.

Tariq Mehmood, who kept all three of his Atlantic City convenience stores open during the hurricane, said he'd seen several hundred people pass through his doors Tuesday, looking for milk, bread and cigarettes.

"Business is 100 percent good," he said, laughing.

4:59 p.m.

Big Bucks

Hurricane Sandy could cause up to $10 billion to $20 billion in total economic damages, with $5 to $10 billion in insured losses covered by insurance, estimated Eqecat Inc., a California company that uses modeling to estimate insurance damages.

"Eqecat's initial economic damage estimate for this event is about $10 billion dollars, or comparable to Hurricane Irene," the company wrote on its website

Based on past events, Eqecat said, there should be "a widespread incidence of relatively low levels of damage." It's typical, the company said, for about half of all losses to be covered by insurance, with many companies involved in paying claims.

- Jane M. Von Bergen

5:04 p.m.

Montgomery County

Springfield Twp. (Montgomery County) and Cheltenham Twp. schools to remain closed on Wednesday.

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4:59 p.m.

Chestnut Hill

Traveling through the backroads of Chestnut Hill and Mt. Airy was like following a trail of broken trees Tuesday afternoon, with the soundtrack of chainsaws growling everywhere.

Sandy had split trunks garishly, their pale innards exposed, their limbs sprawled helplessly across lawns. The storm had ripped out branches that dangled like dislocated arms across wires, their twiggy fingers dipping toward the puddles in the leaf-carpeted streets.

Bill Haines, who has worked on the maintenance crew of Springside and Chestnut Hill Academy for more than 30 years, got up at 2 a.m. to start work. Stopping in Wyndmoor for gas, he drove past Arcadia University where he found a huge tree toppled across Church Road. "It had raked down four utility poles and the streetlights were hanging a few inches off the ground," Haines said. "I said to myself, 'Oh no! It's going to be one of those days!"

Once he arrived at the private schools' campus, he discovered, with horror, that a 120-foot maple had plummeted into the brand new running track, tearing through the rubber and puncturing the Astroturf.

"The painter was just here Friday," Haines said, indicating the fresh white lines marking the lanes. "It's ruined," he said.

- Melissa Dribben

4:59 p.m.

Upper Merion

A portable generator being used in a house that lost power due to Hurricane Sandy may have caused the death of a 90-year-old woman in Upper Merion township, police said.

When emergency workers arrived at the woman's house in the Swedeland section, they found the woman's body on a hospital bed on the first floor, and detected high levels of carbon monoxide in the house.

Police said a preliminary investigation showed that "a portable gas-powered generator was in use in the garage of the house since the power had gone out around midnight." The homeowners, who slept on the third floor were evacuated as the Swedesland Fire Department helped ventilate the house until it was safe.

The generator was being used to power a light for the older woman in case, police said, she needed to get up in the middle of the night. Police were still notifying family, and did not release the names of the victim or the other residents.

- Carolyn Davis

4:33 p.m.

Montgomery County

Sen. Bob Casey and Congresswoman Allyson Schwartz visited the Montgomery County Emergency Opertions Center this afternoon to be briefed on county relief efforts.

Among those stationed at the Eagleton facility last night were 911 dispatchers, county public safety officers, Peco representatives, national guard troops, Red Cross agents and others.

Casey was impressed by the high-tech facility, which he said rivaled the statewide command post he visited yesterday. Schwartz praised county agencies' "interoperability" and public-information efforts.

The two legislators will be lobbying for federal relief funds, while county Commissioners Josh Shapiro and Leslie Richards keep an eye on power outages.

The county's No. 1 priority at this point, they said, is restoring electricity to health facilities and special-needs individuals who are currently using generators. They would not identify those sites, but said the Parkhouse senior care facility is not among them.

Commissioner Bruce Castor was not present today, nor did he attend the public safety press conference in Conshohocken on Sunday.

Schwartz and Shapiro have been without power at their homes since about 8 p.m. - "7:45, to be exact," Schwartz joked."

- Jessica Parks

4:23 p.m.

Chester County

Though Hurricane Sandy closed the southbound lane of Route One over the Brandywine Creek on Monday night, Hurricane Floyd in 1999 was much worse, one observer said.

"Hurricane Floyd was four feet deep," at Leader's Sunoco, cashier Valerie Smith said on Tuesday. The gasoline station is at the intersection of Route One and Route 100, within sight of the bridge over the creek.

By noon Tuesday, both lanes of Route One over the Brandywine were open. And the Chester Department of Emergency Services said earlier that that was the only major road closure in the county.

In West Chester, the Side Bar restaurant on Gay Street near High Street had closed on Monday, but opened at 2 p.m. Tuesday, an hour later than usual.

Four of the 11 employees had "called out" on Tuesday, said Ryan Waldt, the manager there - one of them is from Delaware County, one from Blue Bell in Montgomery County and two who spent the weekend at their family home south of Harrisburg couldn't return.

By 2:30 p.m., the Side Bar had about a dozen patrons and more were arriving.

Though the Side Bar was dark on Monday, across Gay Street The Social Lounge was open through the worst on Monday evening.

"We didn't lose power," manager Donald Moore said.

"I kept getting texts, 'Are you open?' " Moore said, "so we put something up on Facebook that we were going to open at 5 p.m."

And by 6 p.m. Monday, there were 35 customers in the place, he said, with no loss of staff either Monday or Tuesday.

Back in Chadds Ford, the 10-foot roadside sign at the entrance to The Brandywine River Hotel lay flattened on the side of Route One near Route 100.

But up the driveway, all was well at Green Meadows Florist.

Owner Lynn Shultz was emptying about a dozen buckets of water that she had filled - about two gallons each - in case Hurricane Sandy inflicted the worst.

"I'm getting a big shipment of flowers," she said, and prepared for a lack of running water in which to save them. Unneeded, for the delivery, put off until Wednesday.

"We had our usual flooding," at her shop, Schultz said, "but it wasn't as bad as we thought."

4:09 p.m.

Montgomery County

Montgomery County dispatchers fielded over 10,000 911 calls Monday - compared to about 2,000 on an average day, said county spokesman Frank Custer.

Firefighters put down three structure fires, in which one firefighter was injured.

Although the county has been devastated by countless felled trees and power outages - more than 170,000 Peco customers are still in the dark - property damage has been less severe than expected.

- Jessica Parks

4 p.m.

Camden

One of Camden's most severe storm-related damages was to Freddy's Restaurant on Westfield Avenue and 32 Street in East Camden.

Two massive trees came crashing down onto the Dominican restaurant sometime during the storm Monday night. Owner Freddy Hidalgo, of Cherry Hill, arrived at his property around 1 p.m. Tuesday and couldn't believe the sight.

"I'm going to see what the insurance company says," Hidalgo said. He had not yet been able to go inside because the trees were blocking the entrance.

He hopes that he can open back up sometime soon. After all, his Dominican cuisine is one that has become increasingly popular with residents in the seven years he's been at that location.

- Claudia Vargas

3:52 p.m.

Philadelphia

As news reports about the devastation Hurricane Sandy was causing in parts of New York and New Jersey streamed across a television inside of the Hilton Hotel where Martha Robertson and her disabled husband rode out the storm, she couldn't help but wonder what was happening to her Eastwick home.

The couple had to change rooms four times due to leaks in some of the rooms. "I was thinking to myself what's going on in my house when this hotel was leaking?" she said.

But to her surprise, she returned home Tuesday to find that her house on Saturn Place near 78th Street was just as she had left it.

"It was a miracle on Saturn Place," said Robertson, 63. "It couldn't be anything but an act of God we didn't flood."

Eastwick is one of Philadelphia's flood-prone areas and residents on Saturn Place live near Darby Creek. Robertson said anytime there's more than two and a half inches of rain, flooding occurs. But not this time.

Mayor Nutter and other city officials had visited Eastwick Monday afternoon and told residents to leave the area. Nutter had urged all residents who lived in flood-prone areas -10,000 Philadelphians -to evacuate.

City officials said 380 people stayed in shelters Monday night and there were roughly 297 downed trees. Compared to New Jersey and New York, Philadelphia fared pretty well. There were no reports of fatalities or major injuries.

-Jan Ransom

3:48 p.m.

Camden County

More than 27,000 people are without power in Camden County today. PSE&G crews are out assessing damages but a definite timeline is not yet known for when residents would have power back, said PSE&G spokeswoman Deann Muzikar.

On Tuesday afternoon several streets throughout the county were still closed, most notable the Admiral Wilson Boulevard, which feeds into the Ben Franklin Bridge. The bridge, however, is open in both directions.

County Freeholder Ian Leonard has been out with county parks and public works crews assessing damage and helping move trees and branches out of roadways.

Damages in the county were not as bad as had been anticipated, Leonard said. Cooper River and the Delaware River both flooded but quickly receded and did not cause too much damage. In comparison to Hurricane Irene last year, Leonard said Irene was "much worse with flooding," but Hurricane Sandy had stronger winds and therefore a messier cleanup.

About 100 trees have been reported to be down throughout the county.

Camden City Mayor Dana L. Redd has issued a mandatory 6 p.m. curfew for everyone under 18-years-old. Three community centers - Malandra Hall Community Center; Isabel Miller Community Center ; and North Camden Community Center - will remain open tonight and possible in the coming days, depending on the community's need, said city spokesman Robert Corrales.

- Claudia Vargas

3:42 p.m.

N.J. universities

Classes will not resume until next week at Rutgers University's main campus in New Brunswick and its Piscataway campus, said spokesman Greg Trevor.

Neither campus has power, and New Brunswick also is without water. As a result, the university relocated 3,500 students from the New Brunswick campus to the Piscataway side.

- Sue Snyder

3:42 p.m.

FEMA

During a conference call to update reporters Tuesday afternoon, FEMA Coordinator Craig Fugate said restoring electric power - including to as many as 1.4 million Pennsylvanians - has become a key focus of the emergency management agency. "Power restoration drives all other responses, especially public safety," Fugate said.

Fugate also said FEMA is working with the Department of Energy and local utilities to mobilize storm and field personnel to assist in power restoration efforts. He also said once it became clear when and where Hurricane Sandy was headed, FEMA "pre-deployed" generators to governors in states likely to have significant power outages.

National Hurricane Center Director Rick Knabb, who also joined the conference call, said Hurricane Sandy, now a post-tropical cyclone, was centered in western Pennsylvania and coastal impacts had diminished since Monday night when the storm came ashore near Atlantic City.

Knabb said there was "potential" for new power disruptions as Sandy tracks north to upstate New York. In response to a question about where the best prospects for river flooding were, Knabb said most, but not all, of it was likely to occur in New Jersey and Pennsylvania.

- Michael Hinkelman

3:34 p.m.

Philadelphia

All city schools - public, parochial and charter - will open on Wednesday, officials said.

Archdiocesan high schools and parish elementary schools will reopen on a normal schedule.

The reopening of Archdiocesan high schools and parish elementary schools will be made by local officials in the suburban counties.

Families are asked to check with individual schools.

- Rose Ciotta

3:28 p.m.

Burlington County

Jim Lubitsky wasted little time cleaning up Tuesday, the day after a 40-foot maple fell a top 3 cars parked in his Cinnaminson driveway . "We were in the house and heard the crash. I was just thankful no one got hurt," he said, noting the tree uprooted around 9:30 p.m.

By Tuesday afternoon, the tree was chopped into pieces and laying on the side of the road.

"I don't think we're the only ones," he said, shrugging, as chainsaws blared in the neighborhood in Sandy's aftermath.

A couple blocks away, another tall maple that grazed a roof when it crashed last night, was also cut up and ready for curbside pickup.

"It just missed my car," said Verann Wesley, the homeowner.

- Jan Hefler

3:23 p.m.

Bryn Mawr

Harcum College in Bryn Mawr lost the top layer of the roof on its main academic building during the height of Hurricane Sandy and will remain closed at least until Monday, its president said Tuesday afternoon.

President Jon Jay DeTemple said he received the call about the roof between 10:30 and 11 p.m. on Monday night when the winds were howling. It caused a lot of debris to spill onto the ground, but only minimal leakage inside the building, DeTemple said.

He's not sure how much the damage will cost the college, but guesses about $500,000.

"It's clearly going to have to be a roof replacement. It's just a question of how much that will cost," he said, noting that it was an older roof.

The majority of the college's classes are held in the building at 750 Montgomery Ave., the largest building on campus, he said. About 1,100 of the college's 1,600 students take classes in the building, which is across the street from Bryn Mawr College.

Harcum is a private college with allied health programs its biggest major.

- Sue Snyder

3:18 p.m.

Levittown

John Good, Paul Price, JoAnn Mulzet and others in the Oaktree section of Levittown were recovering Tuesday afternoon after more than a dozen giant 40- and 50-year-old oak trees fell on cars and homes because of Sandy. Price said he was lucky to be alive because a tree in his front yard crashed on his driveway as he was attempting to move his car to safety and tangled him in its limbs. "I've never seen trees come down like toothpicks," said Joan Hardy, another Oaktree resident.

- Bob Fernandez

3:17 p.m.

Oyster Creek plant on alert

The Oyster Creek nuclear facility in Ocean County remains on "alert" Tuesday afternoon, even though the water problems that caused the reactor to be place on "alert" status have somewhat abated, a U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission spokesman said. The facility was put on "alert" status at 8:45 p.m. Monday when rising water in an intake canal reached six feet. The canal sends water to a pump which helps the cooling process.

Even though Oyster Creek had been shut down due to previously scheduled maintenance, the spokesman said, water was still needed to cool spent fuel. At 6.5 feet, pump operations could be affected. By 12:45 a.m. Tuesday water levels had peaked at 7.4 feet, before beginning to recede. By 2:15 p.m. Tuesday, the water level had dropped to 5.7 feet. The water had to stay below six feet for several hours, said spokesman Neil Sheehan, before Oyster Creek would "exit alert status." Alert is the second least serious category. Throughout, the commission deemed the facility as "safe."

Oyster Creek was among the entities that had experienced power outages. By mid Tuesday afternoon, some power had been restored to the plant. Crews had not yet completed repairing reactivating 21 warning sirens that had been knocked out by the storm, spokesman Neil Sheehan said.

- Jane M. Von Bergen

2:56 p.m.

Darby Borough

Police Chief Robert Smythe said Darby Borough survived Hurricane Sandy mostly unscathed with no injuries or flooding. Officials feared that Darby Creek would flood and had issued a mandatory evacuation for several flood-prone areas near the creek. Police on Monday also went door-to-door encouraging residents to leave.

"The citizens of the borough did a tremendous job responding to our pleas," Smythe said.

Smythe said a third of the borough did lose power late Monday night, but the power was restored early Tuesday morning and the gas had been turned back on in those homes.

A shelter at the borough's recreation center on Ridge closed around 1:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Smythe said.

A little more than 50 people had spent Monday night in the shelter.

- Darran Simon

2:51 p.m.

Moorestown

Ruth Rogers, 73, of Moorestown, was surprised at how much she missed electricity when her power went off at 4 p.m. Monday and then stayed off all day today. "I don't know what's going on in the world. I don't have TV or radio and don't know what happened in Atlantic City," she said.

Last night she used 3 blankets and long johns to keep warm. She ate a peanut butter and jelly sandwich for dinner. "I read with a flashlight and then just went to bed at 6:45," she said, as she surveyed downed wires on Chester Avenue. ""I don't remember any hurricane as bad as this,"

A PSE&G worker said he was asked "a million times today" when the power will be restored.

- Jan Hefler

2:49 p.m.

Nuclear Power

Operators at the Salem Unit 1 nuclear power plant in Lower Alloways Township manually shut down the reactor at about 1:10 a.m. Tuesday. They were concerned that rising water levels would impact the operation of pumps used to cool the Salem County reactor. River debris was also beginning to clutter intake valves.

There are three reactors at the Salem County site. One of them, the Hope reactor, continued to operate. Salem Unit 2 had been shut down for previously scheduled routine maintenance, said U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission spokesman Neil Sheehan. Even though operators had shut down Salem Unit 1, the reactor still needed to remain cool. Sheehan said he was told that the plant's atmospheric steam dump valves were used to cool down the reactor.

- Jane M. Von Bergen

2:48 p.m.

West Chester

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie has asked West Chester University to get set up for the possibility of receiving evacuees from Hurricane Sandy, said Pam Sheridan, a spokeswoman for West Chester.

The university is preparing for a 100-cot center on its South Campus, she said. American Red Cross is there and students are being asked to volunteer, she said.

The request from the governor came through the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education, which oversees West Chester and the other 13 state system universities. East Stroudsburg University, another state system school in the Poconos, also has been asked to host evacuees, she said.

- Sue Snyder

2:32 p.m.

PATCO

Patco to resume operations at 6 p.m. running trains every 30 minutes

- Paul Nussbaum

2:31 p.m.

Pennsylvania deaths

Hurricane Sandy killed five people in Pennsylvania. An 8-year-old Susquehanna Co. boy died when a tree limb fell on him. A Berks Co. man, 62, was killed after a tree fell on his house. In Lancaster Co. a man died as he trimmed a tree in preparation for storm. A Somerset Co. woman killed when car spun off road into a pond in snow. And a Lehigh Co. boy 17, was killed while riding an ATV during the storm and hit a tree.

In Delaware County, an infant was injured when a tree fell on a house.

2:31 p.m.

Philadelphia

For many city residents, gratitude was the word of the day. In the city's Holmesburg section, where fallen trees dotted the perimeter of Winchester Park, Kristan McGuckin stood outside her Cresco Ave. home Tuesday afternoon, watching as her husband, sons and neighbors worked to dismantle a massive tree that crashed down to the road Monday night.

The tree, a towering spruce that stretched above the roof of their two-story home, could have done serious damage if it had fallen toward their house. Instead, it went the other way.

"The first half went down, then I watched the rest go down from the porch," said McGuckin, an emergency room nurse at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. "We're super grateful. We're lucky no one was hurt. I'm happy the kids were all home. And I think the city and the mayor did a great job of keeping everybody safe."

- Allison Steele

2:30 p.m.

Philadelphia International Airport

Parts of the airport are barren, but Delta and a few other carriers are flying. No US Airways flights. Security lines are a breeze to walk through - literally no wait. Only one restaurant seems to be open in Terminal D.

- Zach Berman

2:28 p.m.

Lower Merion

Lower Merion Township remains in a state of emergency until midnight Tuesday night, the township said in a press release. Officials warned that many roads were still in rough shape, with downed trees, wires and storm debris in the way. Traffic lights were out at many intersections throughout the township. Officials reminded people that at an intersection where the light is not working, drivers must treat it as a four-way stop.

Many homes also are still without power.

"Residents without power should anticipate that power will be off for an extended period of time. We cannot speculate when power will be restored," the township said.

No deaths or injuries due to the storm were reported. As of Tuesday morning, 10,884 PECO customers were in the dark in the township. Bryn Mawr College was without power at midday Tuesday.

The township said there will be regular garbage and recycling pickups Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. Monday and Tuesday routes will resume next week, with garbage can limits waived due to the storm.

- Carolyn Davis

2:20 p.m.

South Jersey roads

Admiral Wilson Blvd. closed between Ben Franklin Bridge and Airport Circle in Pennsauken because of flooding.

NJ 47 closed in Westville at Broadway Avenue because of flooding.

- Paul Nussbaum

2:14 p.m.

For a convenience store chain that prides itself on never closing down, the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy is turning into the epitome of a crisis for Wawa.

Nearly a third of its 600 convenience stores were shut down today due to power outages, with the most stores closed in central New Jersey, Shore towns, and Upper Bucks and Montgomery Counties.

At the darkened stores parking lots were empty except for a steady procession of cars and pickup trucks rolling in, only to realize they'd have to go elsewhere for water, ice, cigarettes and other essentials.

Wawa's vice president of operations said the hunt is on for backup generators as corporate officials do everything they can to get stores back online. More than 400 stores were shut down overnight - some voluntarily, to help employees stay safe. But every store off-line today is closed to customers as a result of utility companies not yet able to restore power to communities across the region.

Heading north up Route 309, from Lansdale to Quakertown, more communities appeared remain dark, struggling without power. In one case, an entire shoppigt center appeared shut down just south of Quakertown's airport. Inside a Giant in the area, lights were dimmed and refrigerated shelves empty as the supermarket worked on a backup generator to serve as many people as possible.

- Maria Panaritis

1:54 p.m.

In a brief visit to the FEMA regional office in Philadelphia, Mayor Nutter and Sen. Bob Casey lauded the work of the emergency management agency.

"This is where the real work happens," Nutter told dozens of FEMA employees. "You have delivered time after time."

Casey gave rough figures on power outages. For the city and Pennsylvania suburbs, he said, about 585,000 people are without electricity. Statewide, an estimated 1.4 million were left without power.

FEMA officials said Pennsylvania was by far the hardest hit in the agency's 5-state Region 3, which stenches as far south as Virginia and west to West Virginia .

They said typically in major storms in the Philadelphia area, electricity is restored for nearly everyone within a week. But with the hurricane, the repairs may take up to two weeks.

- Mark Fazlollah

1:48 p.m.

Atlantic City officials said Tuesday that one person from Atlantic City died during Hurricane Sandy - a senior citizen who had been evacuated out of Atlantic City and went into cardiac arrest on a bus. Officials said they weren't expecting any more fatalities related to the storm, and the fire department was canvassing the city Tuesday morning to check on residents who had stayed behind.

Atlantic City EMS received 94 calls for service and took 91 to the hospital between 8 a.m. Sunday and 8 a.m. Tuesday, said Tom Foley, the chief of emergency management. In that time period, combined efforts from the city's fire, police and EMS departments, as well as the national guard, helped 215 residents to safety, officials said. The city also received 851 emergency calls during that period, Foley said.

Mayor Lorenzo Langford touted the fact that 30,000 of the city's approximately 39,000 residents self-evacuated. Another 2,600 left the city on evacuation buses, while 275 took refuge at emergency shelters across the city.

The Old Soldier's Home, one of the shelters opened for residents fleeing their homes, evacuated at around 9 p.m. Monday with help from the National Guard, Langford said. He spent the night at that shelter and said floodwaters rose about ankle-deep in the shelter before evacuees were pulled out. Minutes later, he said, the National Guard received an order to pull out of the then-impassable area.

Foley said the city saw up to 8 feet of flooding during the hurricane, and that the largest sustained winds recorded in the city were up to 65 mph. 85 mph wind gusts were also recorded.

- Aubrey Whelan

1:02 p.m.

Bristol Twp., Bucks Co.

With 87% without power in Bristol Township, officials weigh calling in the National Guard tonight to prevent looting.

- Bill Reed

12:35 p.m.

Montgomery Co.

Power returned about 10 a.m. to Springfield Township (Montco) - Erdenheim, Wyndmoor, Flourtown area - after about a 12-hour outage

- Russell Cooke

12:34 p.m.

PNC bank has e-mailed customers that it is waiving overdraft fees and some late fees temporarily in hurricane-impacted areas.

- Tom Infield

12:28 a.m.

Pa. Suburbs

Red Cross shelters in Chester and Delaware Counties have closed, said Sara Smith, spokesperson for the Southeast Pennsylvania Chapter. In total, 650 people and 53 pets spent the night in their Philadelphia area chapters.

In Montgomery County, the shelter at Cheltenham High School has closed. Norristown and Pottstown High Schools still have shelters open. In Bucks County, the shelter at Palisades High School closed, leaving Pennsbury East High School and Council Rock North High School still open. The three shelters in Philadelphia, at Roxborough, West Philadelphia and Samuel Fels High Schools are still open, she said.

- Mari A. Schaefer

12:09 p.m.

Upper Merion

"We have no flooding. A lot of trees down taking wires down," said Ron Wagenmann, Township Manager at Upper Merion. He said about 7 to 9 structures, including The Barn at Norview Farm, sustained some damage from falling branches or trees. About 7000 residence were without power, he said.

"A number of traffic signals are out," he said. Drivers needed to be away when a signal is out, they should treat the intersection like a four way stop, he said.

"I think we scored pretty well," said Carla Showell-Lee, Upper Merion spokesperson, about damage. She credits the preparedness the township did prior to the storm, such as clearing out drains, for keeping flooding down.

11:59 a.m.

Northwest Philadelphia

Dozens of trees went down in the Mt. Airy and Chestnut Hill neighborhoods, knocking out power to blocks at a time before repair crews could get to the damage.

Along Germantown Avenue in Chestnut Hill, traffic lights were dark and less than half the businesses were open Tuesday morning, some with hastily-drawn signs citing loss of electricity, others just locked shut. Coffee shops did a brisk business, serving customers who had lost power at home and regulars who shared storm stories. Germantown Avenue was clear for traffic, moving slowly because of the nonfunctional traffic lights, but Wissahickon Avenue, another major street, was blocked by a downed tree that took out utility lines and a traffic light at Mt. Pleasant Avenue. Thick coverings of wet, slippery leaves made driving hazardous virtually everywhere.

- Bob Warner

11:58 a.m.

Moorestown

An elderly Moorestown woman and her daughter and grandson were forced to leave their home on Highland Avenue after a tree fell, knocking down power lines and exploding a transformer and piercing the wall of an upstairs room.

"We heard an explosion outside" about 5 p.m. Monday, said Jacquelyn Page. She said her mother, 93-year-old Rusty Sprinkle, let out a scream and said " 'A tree's hit the house,' and then I started screaming because my son was upstairs." Her 28-year-old son Scott, called out that he was OK, she said. He said he had been sitting in a chair in his room when the tree hit the roof and pierced the wall. He dove from his chair, Page said, and when he looked up there was a two-and-a-half foot limb jutting "like a needle" into the room.

Emergency crews escorted them from the house, which had lost power.

The family spent the night in a hotel and returned Tuesday morning.

- David O'Reilly

11:58 a.m.

Sandy is toast

As far as the region is concerned, Sandy is just about history, literally and figuratively. "The worst is over," says Gary Szatkowski, meteorologist in charge of the National Weather Service in Mount Holly. In a stunning development, the sun appeared, albeit faintly, northwest of the city.

The Sandy remnants are moving westward, cut off from the Atlantic energy machine, and the wind warnings have been lowered to "advisories."

Not that this will be day for lunching outdoors, as showers continue to rotate east of the storm center. Meanwhile snows cover just about all of West Virginia on into central Pennsylvania. Here is the latest radar image . . . http://www.intellicast.com/National/Radar/Current.aspx?location=USVA0731&animate=true.

As it spins toward its eventual demise, Sandy already has secured a place in meteorological history: A hurricane that mutated into a faux nor'easter and produced blizzard conditions. Louis Uccellini, head of the National Center for Environmental Protection and one the nation's most-respected ministers of storm mayhem said he couldn't recall anything like it. Said Szatkowski, "I don't believe anyone alive has seen this."

11:46 a.m.

Longport, Jersey Shore

In Longport, Atlantic Avenue and beach blocks were covered with sand, a foot deep in some cases. Some beachfront homes sustained tremendous damage - first floor sliding glass doors and windows were gone, leaving the ground floors completely open to the ocean front.

Inside, furniture had been pushed to the opposite end of the house, plywood was strewn about, broken parts of decks and floors scattered about, curtains and doors flapped around in the breeze. In one house, near 24th Street, the first floor was covered with sand and water. A burst kitchen pipe gushed water into the first floor unchecked.

City engineer Dick Carter was assessing the damage. Despite the devastation to individual properties, he said, "I think we dodged a major bullet."

Access to The Point, the narrow southern end of the island, was cut off because it was still under several feet of water.

A fire official said that they had evacuated all but one person from that area. The lone person who remained was believed to be fine.

In all, borough officials expected about three dozen beachfront homes to have sustained significant damage from the storm.

"The first floors are toast," said a Longport fire official.

- Amy S. Rosenberg

- Tony Wood

11:57 a.m.

Temple U. to reopen

Temple University will reopen tomorrow morning on a regular schedule, with the exception of the Ambler-Fort Washington campus, which is without power at the moment. That could change later today if that campus regains power.

The university came through the storm with few problems, said spokesman Ray Betzner. Even its construction equipment was safe, and workers will be able to resume building soon.

"We're really grateful," Betzner said.

- Sue Snyder

11:57

Chester city

Chester city, in Delaware County, had over the weekend evacuated several hundred people living on or near where Kerlin Street ran close to the flood-prone Chester Creek. National Weather Service predictions had warned of significant flooding.

But the city was spared the worst of the storm. There was no major river or creek flooding, and on Tuesday, power that the utility company had intentionally disconnected near the Chester Creed on Kerlin and Parker streets was being restored and people were allowed to return home.

Other than the houses on Kerlin and Parker street that had been taken off-line, power remained largely on in the city, said Mayor John Linder. On Tuesday morning, people began emptying out of a shelter at the Showalter School that at the height of the storm on Monday had housed 37 people, some from other municipalities.

One pregnant Parker Street woman who had been housed at the Showalter School shelter was taken to Crozer Chester Medical Center in Uland after she experienced contractions Monday night; Linder said she had not had the baby as of Tuesday morning and was returning home.

- Dan Hardy

11:29 a.m.

Philadelphia

The shore of the Delaware River was a lonely place Tuesday morning. The popular Race Street pier was fenced off, its only company the occasional runner or walker moving quickly past it.

Farther north on the Delaware, boats in the marina next to Dave and Buster's appeared to survive the record water levels with no damage.

And SugarHouse Casino was open, its parking lots fairly full.

- Miriam Hill

11:23 a.m.

Lacey Township

The Oyster Creek nuclear power remains on "alert" status even as the rising waters that caused problems with the reactor's pumping system continue to abate, a spokesman for the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission said Tuesday. Despite the "alert" status, which is the second least serious level, the reactor, located in Lacey Township, Ocean County, is considered "safe," he said.

Of some concern is how high tide, which is set to arrive at 11:45 a.m., will affect water levels. But the water, which had reached 7.4 feet at its height at 12:45 a.m. Tuesday morning, had declined to 6.5 feet by 6:12 a.m. and was continuing to fall, said spokesman Neil Sheehan. Pumping operations can be affected when the water rises to 6.5 feet or above. The pumps are used to move water that keeps the fuel cool.

- Jane Von Bergen

11:21 a.m.

Burlington Co., N.J.

Escaping relatively unscathed, Burlington County is dispatching crews and emergency equipment to neighboring Ocean and Atlantic Counties who were hit a lot harder by the storm, said Ralph Shrom, Burlington County's spokesman.

"We don't have major flooding, but we are still concerned about the high tides, especially tomorrow evening," he said.

Only 80 people and 20 pets went into the county's emergency shelters, freeing up capacity for as many as 700 displaced persons from the nearby coastal counties, he said.

There's about 50 road closures and numerous downed trees throughout Burlington County. Shrom said the county highway department is working with the utility companies to get streets and roads cleared, including parts of Routes 38 and 541.

- Jan Hefler

11:02

Delaware Co.

Mother Oak's 400 or so year old body was no match for Hurricane Sandy Monday night. She slammed onto the ground at about 10:15 p.m., blocking Bala Ave., near Bryn Mawr Ave., with two bursts of horizontal light and a roar "like a freight train, " said its owner, who didn't want to give his name.

"I love the tree," he says, standing across the street looking at it as neighbors came by to chat, make sure he was OK, and take photos.

"The tree had a choice - we called her Mother Oak - to fall on the house, and it chose to fall away from the house. And I am grateful."

In fact, it does seem as though the tree was taking care of its owners. It looks from the split off a high branch that it should have, would have, landed on the house. The part that's on the ground looks like it did an Olympic swimmer's twist to land on the street, bringing power lines down with it. This seems the likely culprit for the neighborhood's power outage.

The owner of the tree and the house it shaded for centuries was as sad as he was grateful:

"She kept watch on the neighborhood for years, and now some of her is gone"

- Carolyn Davis

10:57 a.m.

Levittown

Roselle DiPaoli, 63, didn't know a pine tree fell on her Levittown house until a neighbor knocked on her door and told her.

Her husband, committed to distributing meals to needy storm survivors elsewhere in Pennsylvania, left Tuesday morning to help them, the pine still on his own house. So neighbor Bill Smeltzer, 52, came to their aid. His face speckled with rain and pine dust, Smeltzer spent the morning sawing off branches so he could push the big trunk off DiPaoli's roof.

"Good neighbors are good neighbors, no matter which way you say it," DiPaoli said. "This young man is a gem. You buy a house but you're blessed with neighbors."

Most businesses remain closed - except, somehow, many Dunkin' Donuts. Lines snaked out the doors of those confectionaries, as people, their homes without power, were driven there by a need for hot coffee.

- Dana DiFilippo

10:40 a.m.

Philadelphia region

The high-wind warning for the region is about to expire. The National Weather Service says stiff breezes will continue, on the order of 20 and 25 m.p.h., but no more 50-plus gusts are anticipated. At last look, we couldn't find a gust past 30, and that was in Ocean City.

What's left of Sandy, which has lost all its tropical characteristics, is moving westward across southern Pennsylvania this morning, and later in the day it will make a northward turn toward New York state and then on into Canada.

We'll continue to have showers throughout the region throughout the day, but compared with yesterday afternoon, this should be a relatively tranquil, but still no day to removing branches from your property.

- Tony Wood

10:40 a.m.

Jersey Shore

Downbeach communities of Ventnor, Margate and Longport were hammered with flooding and heavy winds into early Tuesday morning that followed Sandy's calm landfall with hours of pummeling. Beach blocks looked like rivers with fast moving currents of rain water that had backed up in the streets. But Tuesday morning revealed less damage to the beaches than expected.

In some places, the ocean foam got over the dunes, carving up chunks but leaving them relatively intact. The Boardwalk was undamaged, and both the Ventnor and Margate Piers _ rumors notwithstanding _ were undamaged. Dune fencing was ripped up, and the lifeguard storage shed that had started at Suffolk Avenue and the beach in Ventnor set sail and ended up at the pier about eight blocks away.

An unmoored Hobie Cat continued its tangle with dune fencing. On Newport Ave. firefighter Joseph Callahan and Fire Chief John Hazlett cleared off dune fencing from the boardwalk as they surveyed the damage from the storm, which, all in all, was not as bad as feared. "The beach looks pretty good," Hazlett said. "The dunes worked."

Damage to homes appeared to be mostly from flooding, with some rain gutters, storm doors and other minor wind damage. The main roads through the towns, Ventnor and Atlantic Avenue were dry Tuesday morning.

Hazlett said the firefighters responded to two car fires overnight in flooded Ventnor heights, loading equipment into aluminum boats and floating them down streets. They rode up the flooded streets in a city front-end loader more commonly used to fashion dunes on the beach.

Firefighter Joseph Callahan had to literally dive under waist-deep flood water to hook up a fire hose at the scene of the fire. "All those years of body surfing come in handy when you have to stick your head under water to hook up a hose," Hazlett said, as the two drove down the Ventnor boardwalk.

Hazlett said the firefighters lost power and backup power in the New Haven avenue firehouse, and watched for hours as flood waters rushed into the firehouse like a river. "Overall, we've never seen water like this," he said. "It's a historic storm."

He said he personally had about four to five feet of water in his own basement. The firehouse had about a foot of water.

Hazlett said the company had spent most of Monday rescuing people in Ventnor Heights and elsewhere who had second thoughts about staying as the waters rose around them. About three dozen were taken to the Holy Family School on Ventnor Avenue, where a makeshift shelter was set up.

By 4 p.m., though, with winds picking up, those efforts were suspended, and people were stuck. "We evacuated a lot of people," he said. "A lot of people made the decision to stay and had a change of heart and started panicking."

All in all, though, Hazlett said the beaches seemed in much better shape than expected. In the south end of town, where there are no dunes, the storm had pushed sand back behind the Boardwalk and into the street, creating dunes.

"Here's a sandbar on the street," Hazlett said, as they drove off the Boardwalk and onto Washington Avenue near the Margate border.

- Amy S. Rosenberg

10:40 a.m.

Delaware

Delaware Gov. Jack Markell: "We were fortunate to escape the worst of the storm.

Over the last several hours highway police troopers local officials were out assessing the damage. Lot of roads closed in the coastal areas; 40,000 homes without power mostly in New Castle County. Winds subsided overnight. They were less than predicted.

It was a significant storm. Serious flooding started early on Sunday... Waves literally breaking onto (Delaware not US) Route 1 in Sussex County... There is a lot of sand (on that major highway connecting Rehoboth to Dewey, Bethany, OCMD, all to the south).

- Joe DiStefano

10:27 a.m.

Germantown

Four older trees went down at Alden Park Apartments in the Germantown area of Philadelphia, and the complex had workers on the scene first thing in the morning to remove the debris. No cars were hit, and other than that, the complex came through the storm pretty well. There was no flooding, which can be a problem here in high rains.

At the corner of Chelten Ave. and Wissahickon Ave. was a scene that pretty much symbolizes the storm's effect - a blue bike was mangled and upside down, still attached to the bike rack.

A little further up the road on Wissahickon, tree branches had fallen into power lines, but the complex retained power throughout the storm.

- Sue Snyder

10:25 a.m.

Haddonfield, N.J.

Ralph Sitley of 326 Westend Avenue in Haddonfield said he was lucky when a towering oak went down beside his home, scrapping the front corner and causing little damage.

"We're used to it," he said while snapping pictures and recalling the oak that feel last year in front of his home.

"It came down so damn fast," Sitley said of last night's tree. "And within seconds, the second one came down."

Around the corner, a second tree clobbered a car in a driveway on Woodland Avenue. At the end of Woodland, at Peyton, another oak crashed onto two cars owned by the Mangelli family.

"It was a huge crack and the a thud," said Jennifer Mangelli, who had just put her three young children to bed.

At 402 Elm Street, Stephen Castellano said he woke up after 11 p.m. To his dog barking, thinking the worst of the storm passed an hour earlier.

"When it got calm, I thought we were safe," Castellano said. "First I heard the dog barking and then I heard the slam."

An oak came down over his 15-year-old daughter's bedroom, branches poking through the roof in at least two spots.

"It scared all of us," Castellano said, waiting for emergency services to remove the tree. Last night, he slept in the rear den with his wife and daughter after the tree had fallen.

- Barb Boyer

10:17 a.m.

Jersey Shore

While the entire length of the Garden State Parkway reopened Tuesday morning, access to Ocean City, Sea Isle City and other Cape May County barrier islands remained closed to mainland traffic Tuesday morning in the wake of the storm.

Emergency Management officials were busy assessing the "severe" beach erosion and checking on the residents who had opted to ride out the storm in the islands. It will be "well after" this morning's high tide at 9 a.m. before officials will likely give the all clear to return, according to Laurie Howey, a spokeswoman for the City of Ocean City's emergency management office.

Howey said the biggest concern of year-around residents who had fled and second-homeowners is finding out the status of their properties.

"We have a litany of people calling in for information about their properties," Howey said. "Everybody wants to get back to check their houses."

Howey said if anyone is allowed back, they will likely only have a "window of time" between high tides to do so, because tidal flooding was expected to continue at least through Tuesday.

- Jacqueline Urgo

10:15 a.m.

Delaware County

Delaware County got off relatively easy, even some flood-prone areas. This morning a police cruiser was still trapped by fallen trees at Naylors Run Park by the Darby Creek, but there was overall less impact than could have been, according to Upper Darby Police Superintendent Michael Chitwood. But "We had no floods at all, " he said. "We get whacked when it rains." About 8,000 power outages were reported, some have already been restored, he said.

Chester city spokeswoman Summer Freeman said about 100 homes lost power, and there was some flooding in parks as well as a residential area evacuated earlier Monday.

"We haven't had any unexpected flooding," Freeman said.

She said there still about 36 people from the evacuated area in Red Cross school shelter.she said it was unknown when they will be able to return home.

Rita Giordano

10:03 a.m.

Cinnaminson, New Jersey

It's called Arbor Drive because of all of its trees on the Cinnaminson street, and at least three 40-footers crashed in the storm, including one that wiped out 3 cars parked in a driveway.

Jan Hefler.

10:02 a.m.

"We are really transitioning into recovery now," said Samantha Phillips, the city's deputy director of emergency management.

The chief problem is downed trees, now about 300 reported toppled in the storm. "We had pretty significant wind last and paired with ground saturation. Saturated grounds and high winds are a recipe for trees following over," she said.

If trees fall on buildings, inspectors from the Department of Licenses and Inspections must be called to make sure the buildings are structurally sound, she said.

One important aspect of their work is to document damage so the city can qualify for emergency funding from the state and federal government. "The biggest problem is keeping a real good tab on the data," she said. "We can do some prioritization and also keep track of all this data. To qualify for the federal and state assistance, the city must report significant damage to 100 houses, she said. "I think we'll be close," Phillips said, urging residents to call 311 to report problems.

Phillips said that the city fielded a normal amount of emergency medical service calls overnight, but "the fire department had a record call day," she said. In addition to handling calls about downed wires, the department had to cope with a two-alarm fire on Independence Avenue in the East Oak Lane section of the city. Two households with 11 people were displaced.

As conditions improve, people in three city-run shelters are beginning to leave, with population in those shelters falling below 300 by 9:45 a.m.

The power outages - about 64,000 in the city, the downed wires, the fallen trees and shelter population, are interrelated, she said. "There are a lot of moving pieces."

Phillips sounded particularly cheerful, considering the demands on her responsibilities in coordinating emergency management. "It is fun," she admitted. "This is why we do this. This is where we test a lot of we have in place. You learn a lot about cities from disasters and I think Philadelphia is doing pretty well."

Jane Von Bergen

10 a.m.

New Jersey: While the entire length of the Garden State Parkway reopened Tuesday morning, access to Ocean City, Sea Isle City and other Cape May County barrier islands remained closed to mainland traffic Tuesday morning in the wake of the storm.

Emergency Management officials were busy assessing the "severe" beach erosion and checking on the residents who had opted to ride out the storm in the islands. It will be "well after" this morning's high tide at 9 a.m. before officials will likely give the all clear to return, according to Laurie Howey, a spokeswoman for the City of Ocean City's emergency management office.

Howey said the biggest concern of year-around residents who had fled and second-homeowners is finding out the status of their properties.

"We have a litany of people calling in for information about their properties," Howey said. "Everybody wants to get back to check their houses."

Howey said if anyone is allowed back, they will likely only have a "window of time" between high tides to do so, because tidal flooding was expected to continue at least through Tuesday.

Jackie Urgo

9:59 a.m.

Philadelphia

On Bentley Ave. near Bangor Rd., a tree branch rests on a Ford.

Carolyn Davis

9:55 a.m.

New Jersey

Lawrenceville/Pennington: Route 31 closed near Pennington Circle, massive downed trees. Route 206 still closed at Lawrenceville-Pennington Road. New Jersey 101.5 has phone lines down, trying to conduct talk shows with listeners via Twitter - but then loses power!!

John Timpane

9:51 a.m.

There was record-breaking high tide on the Delaware Monday night. The usual difference between high and low tide on the river is 6.9 feet, but Monday night it reached 10.62 feet at high tide, a record, said Samantha Phillips, deputy managing director for Philadelphia emergency service management.

"Penn's Landing was flooded out," Phillips said. "Delaware Avenue at Spring Garden was closed."

The area around Spring Garden Street and Penn's Landing is the lowest, she said, and the most prone to flooding.

"You lose the road," she said.

Jane Von Bergen

9:50 a.m.

Columbus Avenue, Philadelphia

The Delaware River spilled over its banks and on to Columbus Blvd in the early hours of Tuesday, but receded quickly as the rain slowed to a drizzle. Shortly after 9 a.m., most of the water was gone from the road, leaving in its place branches, leaves, dirt, trash and other detritus streaking the roadway.

The boats anchored in the marinas near the Race St pier bobbed peacefully in the water Tuesday morning, with no signs of serious damage.

Allison Steele

9:40 a.m.

Center City, Philadelphia: A walk along the Schuylkill Banks in Center City revealed almost no damage. The river may have crested the banks earlier, but is now below the bulkhead. Dogwalkers out in force at the new dog park. Penn and Drexel students walking over Walnut Street Bridge. Hardly any broken branches and no downed trees that I could see. It looks like we had a big rain.

Inga Saffron

9: 30 a.m.

Atlantic City police say there have been no reports of casualties, though officials are still assessing damage. No officers have been injured. Authorities are going door to door throughout the city. Worst flooding was in low-lying areas, near the bay. Water receded in some spots but more flooding expected later this morning when high tide hits the bay at 9:35 p.m. That said, flooding will not be as bad as last night. The area around the inlet is where the worst flooding took place, according to Capt. Pete McCabe of the A.C. Fire Department. National Guard brought in 5-ton trucks so they could navigate through the flooded streets and rescue people. Even then, some streets were still impassable.

"There appears to be fairly significant damage from high winds and water," said Capt. Frank Brennan, of the Atlantic City Police Department. "Last night's high tide covered more than 85 percent of Atlantic City."

Police have no estimate on the number of people who were evacuated. Lt. Craig Anderson said most of the cars in neighborhoods appear to have gone, which to him indicated that many people had left. "It's a disaster, and you know, we've gotten through it. We are doing the best we can," said Anderson.

There is a lot of debris on the AC Expressway. Outbound lanes are clear, however.

Couple of hundred people are still at the shelter at Atlantic City High School. Because of flooding threat, the shelter at an elementary school on Sovereign Avenue was closed and people were relocated to the high school.

Aubrey Whelan

9:30 a.m.

Rittenhouse Square, Philadelphia

Just did a loop around Rittenhouse Square area...

About 9 a.m. Tuesday, several people were walking through Rittenhouse Square, either walking their dogs, jogging or walking through with coffee cups in hand. Though less than the usual congestion of people on weekday morning crossing through the square, the scene was a familiar one.

All trees and benches in the square were intact. The only remanence of Hurricane Sandy was the fall foliage on the ground. Several stores in the areas, such as Federal Donuts and Di Bruno Brothers were preparing to open later today. Some coffee shops, such as Manhattan Bagels of 18th and Sansom streets and Dunkin' Donuts on 20th and Chestnut streets were already open with people bustling in and out.

Everyone seemed to have power in the immediate Rittenhouse area.

Claudia Vargas

8:42 a.m.

Cherry Hill: Power remains out this morning for most homes west of Kings Highway to Cooper Landing Rd - including Windsor Mews and Windsor Park West developments. Outage caused by a downed tree on W. Tampa Avenue at 8:15 p,m. Monday night.

David Warren

8:30 a.m.:

The shelter at Cheltenham High School lost power Monday night about 9:30 and is still without electricity. "All our food went bad," said Virginia Kremer.

About 15 women spent the night.

Dan Rubin

8:13 a.m.

Region: The floodgates reopen today (pardon the pun) at area shopping malls after a day that saw virtually every major indoor mall in the Philadelphia region close ahead of the arrival of Hurricane Sandy. Here's early word of a batch of mall reopenings planned for later today, as well as one closure, along with opening times:

Opening at Noon:

Cumberland Mall

Exton Square Mall

Moorestown Mall

Voorhees Town Center

Willow Grove Park

Opening at 1 p.m.:

Cherry Hill Mall

Plymouth Meeting Mall

Springfield Mall

Closed:

The Gallery at Market East

King of Prussia Mall will open at 1 p.m., though Bloomingdale's will remain closed for a second day, according to a top mall official. Two other anchor stores at the East Coast's largest shopping mall will be opening promptly: Nordstrom at 11 a.m., and Lord & Taylor at noon. All other anchors plan to welcome shoppers back at 1 p.m..

Maria Panaritis

8:08 a.m.

Atlantic City: Fire personnel say the worst flooding here was in the inlet between Atlantic City and Brigantine. The department made a number of water rescues Monday night, they said.

National Guard troops had been patrolling the city, with a new shift arriving in hum-vees at the convention center early Tuesday.

Damage to Atlantic Avenue and casinos like Trump Plaza, Bally's and Tropicana was minimal.

Aubrey Whelan

8 a.m.

Delaware County: Edwin Truitt, director of Delaware County Emergency Services, said the county came through the storm in pretty good shape.

"Nobody got hurt. If somebody gets hurt it's a disaster. If nobody gets hurt it's a major inconvenience," he said.

Power outages are down to 6,000 homes from 27,000 on Monday, he said. The only major roadway that is still flooded and blocked off is Rose Valley Road, which sits in a bowl in Media.

Radnor is reporting that one-third of the township is without power and the high school is still open as an emergency shelter.

"We had a tremendous amount of wires down, trees down, but we've been sending fire companies out all night long to address those issues," Truitt said. "To the best of my knowledge we don't have any trees blocking highways that would hinder PECO crews from restoring power." Workers are still monitoring Darby Creek, whose watershed extends 26 miles so it still is absorbing storm water.

Schools remain closed as do county offices, with the exception of the bureau of election which is open for absentee ballots for next week's election.

Kathy Boccella

7:44 a.m.

Washington Square Park came thru Sandy intact. Lot of leaves on ground but dog walkers already out. Flame at Tomb of Unknown Soldier in Washington Square Park still extinguished but trees around it standing tall.

Diane Mastrull

7:30 a.m.

Chester County: Emergency operations spokesman Rob Linnenbaugh reported a quiet night in Chester County, with only minimal flooding of the East Brandywine Creek in Downingtown, "which remains above flood level," he said. Several roads had been flooded, but those waters have receded. Route 322 in East Bradford Township is closed between Frank Road and Copeland School Road, he said, along with several other secondary roads, which he was not able to immediately name.

A tree fell on a house in the 100 block of Cambridge Road in West Caln Township at 10:02 p.m., requiring an emergency crew to help the resident, a woman, escape, Linnenbaugh said. She was not hurt, but the tree blocked her ability to leave the house. Linnenbaugh said he did not know the age of the woman. She was taken to Brandywine Hospital to be examined.

Linnenbaugh said emergency managers would assess damage throughout the day.

Jane Von Bergen

7:10 a.m.

New Jersey: "I think the loses are going to be incalculable," N.J. Gov. Chris Christie said in a 7:10 a.m. interview on The Today Show.

Christie said three are known to have died in storm-related incidents.

"We have a battered, battered New Jersey shore," Christie said..

The governor said there are active search and rescue missions in the hardest hit areas, especially Atlantic City, much of which was underwater, and Moonachie, Bergen County, where a broken area levee helped flood the town.

Christie said there are four rescue boats now in Atlantic City and 21 New Jersey State Troopers, as well as federal search and rescue teams.

Christie said he was on the phone at midnight with President Obama and said the federal government's, "response has been great" and that Obama, "has been outstanding about this."

He also commented on his blasting yesterday of Atlantic City Mayor Lorenzo Langford, who opened city shelters, despite Christie's declared state of emergency that ordered evacuations.

"The fact of the matter is, I feel badly for the folks in Atlantic City who listened to him and sheltered there . . . unfortunately, they got a mixed message."

Christie said he believes New Jersey will qualify for major federal assistance, but, added: If I have to make budget cuts to do this, we'll do it."

"New Jersey is a tough place," Christie said. "We'll recover from this."

Frank Kummer

7:04 a.m.

Bucks County: A tree fell on two teenagers at about 7:30 p.m. Monday in Levittown, injuring one of them seriously, said John D. Dougherty Jr., director of emergency management in Bucks County. He said they were taken to St. Mary's Medical Center in Langhorne.

Tree damage has been pretty bad throughout the region, particularly in Tinicum and Nockamixon Townships in the northern end, he said. However, a tree fell onto a house in Levittown and damaged it badly. "The biggest problem we have in Bucks County are the trees that are down," he said.

Dougherty said the downed trees and damage from high winds are the worst he has seen in 20 years. "Most of the times we get bad flooding," he said. "But we've only had three to four inches of rain over 48 hours. We might have had some flash flooding, but none of the creeks or rivers have flooded."

PECO crews have just returned to the county to begin coping with the 185,000 people without power, Dougherty said. Because of the winds, crews had not been out from midnight until about 6 in the morning.

Today's task, he said, is for emergency managers in the municipalities to drive through their regions reporting damage to him and assessing a dollar value to it. Then he'll report it to the Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency, PEMA.

Jane Von Bergen

7 a.m.

Doylestown: Bristol Road in total darkness with vas power outages and fallen trees.

Jennifer Lin