Thousands will be without power until Friday

Doug Stanglin and Gregg Zoroya | USA TODAY

Show Caption Hide Caption Thousands still without power in Northeast After a massive ice storm hit Maine, crews are working around the clock to restore power.

Freezing temperatures prevent the ice along the power lines from melting

Maine and Michigan could see more snow Thursday

Twenty-seven deaths in the USA and Canada have been blamed on the storm

Power is slowly being restored in Michigan and Maine, but tens of thousands of people who endured a dark Christmas could be without power until Friday night, despite round-the-clock efforts to get electricity flowing again.

About 100,000 customers were still without power in Michigan Thursday and almost 33,000 were still blacked out in Maine.

The American Red Cross provided warm shelter, food, blankets and water in Michigan's hard-hit Lapeer county, where about 12,000 remained without power. Another 88,000 customers were in the dark mainly in Genesee County.

DTE Energy said it has more than 1,500 workers -- including some 500 linemen from West Virginia, Pennsylvania, Georgia, Indiana, Illinois and Ohio -- in the field to get power back on. Hundreds more workers were clearing lines of fallen tree branches.

Consumers Energy spokesman Brian Wheeler said it has brought in about 1,000 people from out of state, including utility workers and tree trimmers.

"Work is going on as we speak," said Wheeler, the Detroit Free Pressreports. "A lot of folks will get power today," Wheeler said, adding that full power restoration for the entire state is expected by the end of day Saturday.

He said Grand Rapids and the surrounding area should have power restored Thursday; Kalamazoo on Friday, and Flint and the Oakland County area on Saturday. Some fresh utility crews from out of state were making their way to the Flint area, he said.

Wheeler said teams work down a priority list, with hospitals, police and fire agencies, and radio and television outlets and telephone and communications organizations at the top, along with water and sewer facilities, the Lansing State Journal reports.

Next come repairs that affect the largest numbers of people, followed by high voltage lines, substations, primary distribution lines, transformers and secondary lines.

In Maine, Bangor Hydro Electric is advising people it will be the end of the day Friday before it's more than 11,000 customers all are back on line. The number has fluctuated as some people get power back while others lose it.

"We've had two beautiful, sunny days in Maine and the ice isn't going anyplace," said Lynette Miller, spokeswoman for the Maine Emergency Management Agency. "They're very concerned about more weight coming down on trees that are already compromised by ice."

Central Maine Power, with more than 24,000 customers still in the dark early Thursday, hoped to get power back for most by the end of the day but acknowledged that some will still be without electricity on Friday. More than 100,000 were without power at the storm's peak.

More snow is expected Thursday in Maine and parts of Michigan, along with frigid temperatures that could keep ice from melting off power lines and tree branches, posing new risks for outages

Twenty-seven deaths have been blamed on the storm and cold, with 17 in the USA and 10 in Canada. Among those in Canada, seven were the result of carbon monoxide poisoning from people using generators or barbecues to stay warm after losing power and heat.

Joseph Van Dykes Jr., 68, of Holden, Maine, told the Bangor Daily News that his daughter, who lives in Massachusetts, "harassed" him into going into a shelter.

Van Dykes, who lives in a trailer park, spent part of Tuesday sitting in his running car to stay warm and to keep his breathing machine, which requires power, charged and working, the Daily News says.

"It's been good here," the former carpenter said of the shelter. "I call home every so often. When the answering machine comes on, I'll know I have power again."

Contributing: Christina Hall, of the Detroit Free Press, Scott Davis, of the Lansing State Journal; the Associated Press