Utility crews continue to work at restoring power for thousands still in the dark in South Jersey following Tuesday's fierce storm.

Storm damage off exit 17 off I-295 at Sweedsboro-Paulsboro Road in Glassboro
Storm damage off exit 17 off I-295 at Sweedsboro-Paulsboro Road in Glassboro (Paul Seredy, Townsquare Media NJ)
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PSE&G said all 810 customers still without power as of 6:45 p.m. are expected to be back online by Friday afternoon. Crews worked through the night, according to the utility, "to remove downed trees, repair damaged lines and other equipment."

With more rain in the forecast, crews will remain in the area to take care of any additional outages.

Atlantic City Electric still has nearly  58,000 customers in the dark, but remains optimistic "most customers" will be restored by late Friday night. "We continue to make progress restoring power to customers who lost service as a result of the severe storm that hit Tuesday night," tweeted the utility on Friday afternoon.

Several Gloucester and Camden County communities continue to be the hardest hit. Five hundred additional support and assessment staff and 419 line workers have joined the restoration effort.

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The storm caused more outages than either the June 2012 derecho or Hurricane Sandy, according to ACE. "For the sake of comparison, during the height of the derecho, 206,000 Atlantic City Electric customers lost power. Hurricane Sandy caused more than 220,000 power outages," explained the company in a statement.

Gov. Chris Christie on "Ask the Governor" said the state Office of Emergency Management estimates $31.5 million worth of damage so far was caused by the storm. Christie said the state was beginning the process of filing for a joint Federal Emergency Management Agency-state preliminary damage assessment on the impact to New Jersey counties to help determine if the amount of damage would make the state eligible for federal aid. On Friday, Christie said  that FEMA workers are on the ground assessing damage.

"They're making progress," said Christie, who said he met with ACE officials to discuss the outages on Wednesday, who added that PSE&G is sending some of their crews and the out-of-state crews they brought in to assist with restoration.

The American Red Cross will open reception centers again from 10:30 a.m. to 8 p.m.at the County Government Services Building in Clayton located at 1200 N. Delsea Drive and the Mt. Royal Fire Department in East Greenwich located at County House Road and Kings Highway.

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