Thu Feb 12, 2009 2:12pm EST
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Wind gusts felled trees onto power lines from Ohio to New York on Wednesday night, leaving by Thursday afternoon more than 600,000 customers without electricity, utility companies said.
Ohio utilities were hit hardest, and most of those without power are expected to be restored by Friday. Utilities were also affected in West Virginia, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York, Maryland, Virginia and Indiana.
American Electric Power Corp's AEP-Ohio reported by Thursday 167,500 customers without service.
First Energy, which serves Ohio, New Jersey and Pennsylvania, said 165,000 customers were without power, down from a peak of 390,000 in Ohio and Pennsylvania after Wednesday's big blow.
Allegheny Power said it had 147,000 customers without power in Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Maryland and Virginia.
"Service restoration efforts are expected to continue in some parts of the service territory into the weekend. Additional crews have been called in and will be arriving throughout the day," AEP said on its website.
First Energy spokesman Chris Eck said the bulk of customers affected would have power restored by Friday.
The biggest chunk of the AEP outages in Ohio are in and around Columbus, the state's capital and its biggest city.
(Reporting by Bernie Woodall and Scott DiSavino; Editing by Christian Wiessner)
Ohio utilities were hit hardest, and most of those without power are expected to be restored by Friday. Utilities were also affected in West Virginia, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York, Maryland, Virginia and Indiana.
American Electric Power Corp's AEP-Ohio reported by Thursday 167,500 customers without service.
First Energy, which serves Ohio, New Jersey and Pennsylvania, said 165,000 customers were without power, down from a peak of 390,000 in Ohio and Pennsylvania after Wednesday's big blow.
Allegheny Power said it had 147,000 customers without power in Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Maryland and Virginia.
"Service restoration efforts are expected to continue in some parts of the service territory into the weekend. Additional crews have been called in and will be arriving throughout the day," AEP said on its website.
First Energy spokesman Chris Eck said the bulk of customers affected would have power restored by Friday.
The biggest chunk of the AEP outages in Ohio are in and around Columbus, the state's capital and its biggest city.
(Reporting by Bernie Woodall and Scott DiSavino; Editing by Christian Wiessner)