Thousands could get power back this weekend

Tens of thousands of New Yorkers living downtown should finally get power back this weekend, but "the vast majority" of people that are still without power from Hurricane Sandy's damage will have to wait at least a week before it returns, Con Edison said Thursday.

The election company said "unprecedented damage" caused by the storm would mean that most of its customers -- primarily in Westchester and the outer boroughs -- wouldn't get it back until next weekend. Others will have to wait up to two weeks.

John Miksad, Con Ed's senior vice president of electric operations, said people in lower Manhattan should get service back by Saturday morning.

"We're hoping to do better, but the anticipated restoration is by Saturday," he told reporters during a conference call Thursday.

Con Ed workers had restored power to about 280,000 customers as of Thursday night, Miksad said, leaving more than 630,000 homes in the dark. Gov. Andrew Cuomo said just under 1.5 million New Yorkers were without power across the state as of 4 p.m. Thursday.

The company said it was focusing on areas with larger power outages first. On Thursday, it gave out dry ice to customers without power to try to preserve food.