Utility crews found it tough going Tuesday as they worked to restore power to thousands of customers in the state's southeast corner.

The Omaha Public Power District said some customers may not have their power restored until Thursday night.

And Norris Public Power District in Beatrice said its crews would continue to work overnight into Wednesday.

Muddy roads, snapped power poles and downed lines hampered work in several counties near the Nebraska-Kansas border after a winter storm dumped between 3.5 inches and 10 inches of snow Monday.

As of 2:30 p.m. Tuesday, OPPD reported about 1,100 people without power in its territory, down from about 2,200 Monday. Those outages were primarily in Richardson, Pawnee, Johnson and Nemaha counties.

OPPD said its offices in Tecumseh and Humboldt will be closed during the restoration process so personnel there could help.

The utility estimates about 150 power poles were damaged or destroyed, leaving power lines on the ground. Residents are being cautioned to treat every downed line as a live wire.

Norris had restored power to all but about 400 customers, mostly in rural southern Gage and southeastern Jefferson counties. Monday, about 4,200 customers were without power.

Power was restored to Liberty, Barneston and Lewiston on Tuesday, said Norris spokeswoman Andrea Schafer, adding there were small, scattered outages in other communities.

"We just have a lot of broken poles and a lot of downed power lines," Schafer said.

Norris customers without power were urged to make alternate arrangements for shelter for Tuesday night and Wednesday, the utility said.

Ten people showed up at the shelter set up Monday in Wymore.

"Nobody ended up staying the night," said Rosemary Niemeier, manager of the Southeast Nebraska Chapter of the American Red Cross. "They heard that the power was back on, so they all left."

The shelter was scheduled to remain open Tuesday night in case someone needed a place to stay.

"At this point, we would be kind of surprised if we see anybody," Niemeier said.

The Nebraska Public Power District had four customers without electricity by 3 p.m. Tuesday, said spokeswoman Jeanne Schieffer. Three of the customers were in Barada, the fourth was in Shubert.

About 2,354 NPPD customers were without power at the height of the winter storm on Monday.

No damaged poles were reported by NPPD.

"Our issues were with the wind, ice and heavy snow," Schieffer said.

An indication of how wet the snow was came from a weather observer near Falls City, who noted his 8 inches of snow had the water equivalent of 2.22 inches.

Reach Algis J. Laukaitis at 402-473-7243 or alaukaitis@journalstar.com.