Nearly 200,000 in U.S. in dark

PORTLAND, Maine – Nearly 200,000 homes and businesses were still without power today as restoration efforts continued days after a slow-moving storm battered the Northeast with heavy snow, rain and high winds.

More than 83,000 utility customers still lacked electricity early today in New Hampshire, the hardest-hit state. New York had about 87,000 outages, and Maine had about 16,000.

At the peak of the storm, more than a million utility customers throughout the region had lost power.

Hundreds of utility crews from as far away as Michigan and Maryland continued removing trees that knocked down power lines and replacing utility poles that snapped during last week’s storm.

Dozens of shelters provided warmth and food at fire departments, schools and other places.

Another storm, this one from the east, was expected to bring more snow and rain into parts of New England on Sunday night into today.

Maine stood to get the brunt of the latest front with 3 to 6 inches of snow expected in much of the state, and lesser amounts in New Hampshire and Massachusetts, said Michael Cempa, a National Weather Service meteorologist in Gray, Maine.