Vermont Governor Peter Shumlin says it could be the weekend before all electric customers have their power back following a two-day storm that dumped heavy, wet snow across the state.
Governor Shumlin says the second round of snow that fell Wednesday increased the number of power outages statewide.
Shumlin was joined at a Thursday news conference at the Waterbury headquarters of Vermont Emergency Management by Mary Powell, the president of Green Mountain Power, who said the storm created the utility's greatest challenge since Tropical Storm Irene of 2011.
The National Weather Service says parts of Vermont received more than a foot of snow, including 19.5 inches in Orwell.
At midday Thursday, almost 32,000 customers were without power across Vermont, with the most outages reported in Rutland, Chittenden and Addison counties.
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