Indiana utility companies are still working to restore power to tens of thousands of customers remaining offline since Thursday’s storm.
Officials said at least 90,000 customers were still waiting for power to be restored Friday.
Read more: Duke Energy still assessing power outages
They said most of the outages were in western and south-central Indiana.
“I've been in Indiana almost six years. It's the worst storm I've seen,” Utilities District of Western Indiana CEO Doug Childs said Friday.
Winds of 80 miles an hour and higher knocked down power lines and trees, causing outages across the energy provider’s coverage area.
Childs said his company had more than 200 outages affecting 4,500 customers.
“We anticipate the majority of that 4,000 restored over the next 24 hours, but it could be longer for some,” Childs said. “It’s going to be a weekend of that.”
The utility company has also brought in outside contractors as well as support from fellow energy co-ops get power back to affected Hoosiers.
In Monroe County, officials opened power and cooling stations for affected residents.
They're open Friday and Saturday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., according to a post on the Monroe County Emergency Management's Facebook page.
Duke Energy officials, meanwhile, were still assessing outages Friday.
They expected to announce repair estimates by 7 p.m. Friday, according to text messages sent to some customers in the Bloomington area.
Spokesperson Angeline Protogere said more than 200,000 customers lost power as a result of the storm but more than half were back online.
She said 87,000 customers still lacked power as of Friday afternoon.
“It’s one of the largest storms, in terms of the number of customers affected, that we've had for a while,” Protogere said.
Earlier Friday, Duke’s president said the company was bringing in personnel from Ohio, Kentucky and the Carolinas. Contractors were also assisting.
“We are bringing in a small army to supplement our statewide workforce and speed power restoration,” Indiana President Stan Pinegar said.
Pinegar also noted that incoming storms could impact the restoration process.
More severe weather is in the forecast over the weekend.
This story has been updated.
