Nearly 4.5 million homes and businesses in 12 U.S. states remained without power on Thursday afternoon, three days after Hurricane Sandy battered the U.S. East Coast, federal data showed.
That was down about 200,000 from the 4.7 million customers the U.S. Department of Energy reported as being out earlier on Thursday.
In total, at its peak, Sandy left 8.48 million customers in 21 states from North Carolina to Maine and as far west as Illinois without power. That was slightly more than the 8.38 million that lost service during last year's Hurricane Irene.
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