Hundreds of thousands of people from Michigan to Maine were expected to be in the dark on Christmas even as electrical crews raced Tuesday to restore power to homes after a weekend ice storm caused widespread blackouts.

In Michigan, more than 200,000 households remained without electricity on Tuesday evening — about 50,000 of those in the Detroit area, according to power companies.

“We are working as hard as we can to get people back on,” said a spokeswoman for Consumers Energy, Debra Dodd. “We recognize that this is a terrible time for this to happen.”

Electricity to some homes in Flint, Mich., and surrounding areas of Genesee County is not likely to be restored until Saturday, Consumers Energy said. Thousands of homes in Maine, Vermont and upstate New York were also likely to be without power on Wednesday, electric companies said. Thousands of customers in Canada have also been affected by the storm.