1.   Other levees had been breached Friday night in similar efforts to spare populated areas.

2.   By June, hundreds of wildfires sparked by lightning or arsonists raged from the Panhandle to the Everglades, although large areas were spared.

3.   This area has been spared the worst of the drought.

4.   While many rivers and streams crested above flood stage, all did not overflow their banks and many areas were spared.

5.   With some notable exceptions like the bomb that killed four U.N. workers in Kabul on Tuesday, the U.S. strikes appear to have spared civilian areas.

6.   Civilians areas were spared Monday night, though in the past people living near the airport have been killed by stray rockets.

7.   Nine people in this Pacific resort were killed in the violence Wednesday night and Thursday, but the hotel area was spared.

8.   The so-called Hector Mine earthquake ripped a miles-long rupture across the desert floor but was remote enough to spare urban areas from damage.