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Nearly half a million customers along the East Coast were still in the dark Friday morning, growing increasingly angry with utility crews struggling to restore service after the latest nor'easter.

About 448,800 customers from Maryland to Maine were powerless two days after the second storm in less than a week pummeled the region. Some of them, without electricity since last week's nor'easter, woke up to an eighth day of being in cold, dark houses.

In Westchester County, New York, where many of the tens of thousands without electricity were warned that power may not be restored until the end of the weekend, County Executive George Latimer called for the heads of New York electric and gas companies to resign.

"They failed to respond. They failed to come out to look at the situation. They failed to communicate accurately and properly with people," a furious Latimer told "Today."

Con Edison said it was working to clear downed trees on more than 200 roads in Westchester County so it could restore electric power.

A spokesman for the utility, Sidney Alvarez, said restoration was taking so long because "the two storms were extremely severe."

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"The first came in, knocked a whole bunch of people out of power, and we had to get them back in service, and that was challenging because of all the big trees and vegetation on our lines," Alvarez said. "Then the second nor'easter comes in and the exact same thing happens."

Because Con Edison's overhead system was inundated with fallen trees after the first storm, he added, restoration was already a complex, dangerous task for the utility's workers.

"It did a lot of damage to our overhead system," he said.

Wednesday's deadly storm dumped heavy snow — more than 2 feet in some areas — on the Northeast, knocking down trees and power lines.