Lightning

Lightning might have been the cause of a two-alarm fire early yesterday evening that seriously damaged several units of a Sykesville condominium and forced the residents from their homes. No injuries were reported. Deputy Chief Eddie Ruch of the Sykesville Volunteer Fire Department said the first alarm at the Piney Run Town Houses in the 1000 block of Stonebrook Road was reported at 6:28 p.m. and the second at 6:43 p.m. Ruch said firefighters from stations in Carroll, Howard and Baltimore counties responded.

Betty Callahan arrived at her Hampden church before firefighters did early yesterday morning, only to see "fire tongues" licking the base of the steeple and then engulfing the 130-year-old bell tower and slate roof in flames. Minutes later, about 6:30 a.m, firefighters were dousing Mount Vernon United Methodist Church at 801 W. 33rd St., as evacuated neighbors looked on in the gray dawn. "It looked like Niagara Falls," said Callahan, the church's lay leader and treasurer, of the water shooting from the 15 fire engines called to the scene.

Ken Legace of Stewartstown, Pa., writes: "I thought lightning happened when positive-charged clouds and negative-charged earth connected electrically with a huge ZAP. Then what causes cloud-to-cloud lightning?" While the tops of thunderclouds become positively charged, the bottoms go negative, which induces a positive charge in the ground. Wherever the difference reaches 15 million volts per mile, it discharges. Bolts fly twice as often within clouds as between clouds and ground.

When Duncan Mackay, a journalist and co-author of a coming book on China's Olympic bid, ran with the Olympic torch through London on Sunday, scores of demonstrators converged on him, shouting their conflicting views about China's hosting of the Summer Games. "It was like running between two gangs, really," said Mackay, referring to the people protesting Chinese treatment of Tibet and other human rights abuses and their detractors, tempers flaring like the torch. "One of my friends had children there between the ages of 7 and 13, and for them it was quite frightening."

COLLEGE PARK -- When you're young, it doesn't take long to go from elation to frustration. For Long Reach, it took about 48 hours. On Thursday, the ninth-ranked Lightning boys basketball team capped an improbable comeback with a victory over top-ranked Lake Clifton. Yesterday, it couldn't get going early before falling to Prince George's County's Largo, 84-58, in the Class 3A state championship at Comcast Center. Klevin Pollard led Largo - ranked ninth in the Washington area - with 21 points.

COLLEGE PARK -- Long Reach coach Al Moraz Jr. knows a little something about high school coaching. In three years with the Lightning he has compiled a 67-10 record and took the team to its only state championship in 2006. But even he acknowledged that in yesterday's Class 3A semifinal against No. 1 Lake Clifton, he took some advice from his star forward. "I will give Obi [Ukwuoma] the credit. He convinced me in the fourth to go full-court man-to man," Moraz said. Heeding the senior's advice proved wise.

When looking at the top of the Howard County boys basketball standings, everything was nip and tuck, with four teams going into last night's play with just one league loss. That changed quickly with Atholton's visit to Long Reach. With start-to-finish intensity on defense and a hot-shooting second quarter that provided an insurmountable cushion, the Raiders had a stunningly easy time in a 75-45 victory over Long Reach, ending the Lightning's 30-game home winning streak that dated to the team's 2005-06 state championship season.

Long Reach senior forward Obi Ukwuoma has thrived in his role as the Lightning's team leader and go-to player, averaging 17 points and 10 rebounds this season. Ukwuoma, 6 feet 4, was primed for the responsibility. During his sophomore year, he was called up to the varsity before the team's state championship playoff run, getting experience in what it takes to win a title. And last season, when senior standout Michael Bowden went down with an early injury, Ukwuoma stepped up to take a lead role and earn first-team all-county honors.

Football players have long prided themselves on braving the elements - from wearing short sleeves in frigid temperatures to completing two-a-days in the stifling heat of August. But lightning is a whole different story. Since the NFL adopted its current 32-team makeup for the 2002 season, Mother Nature has disrupted two preseason games with lightning. The most recent was Saturday night, when two storm fronts swept through the Washington area and forced first a delay and then the end of the Ravens' game with the Washington Redskins.

Thunderstorms rumbled through the area last night, cutting power to thousands of homes, sending fans scrambling for cover at sporting events and otherwise dampening events across the region. Severe storm warnings were issued for 16 Maryland counties as a line of rain showers and lightning moved through Frederick and Montgomery counties, the Baltimore area and out into the Chesapeake Bay. About 45,000 customers of BGE were without power shortly after the storm, with the greatest outages reported in Anne Arundel County.