TACOMA -- Tens of thousands of people across Puget Sound are in for yet another cold, dark night.
Puget Sound Energy estimates the bulk of the outages should be repaired by Tuesday and everyone should be back online by Wednesday evening.
As of Monday, PSE reported 39,000 customers still without electricity. Tacoma City Light is down to a few hundred customers without power.
PSE had 280 crews in the field on Monday -- the highest crew count they've had since the power first went out during last week's winter storm.
Robin Stewart's house in Auburn is still in the dark -- day 5 and counting. Stewart and his wife's home of 20 years has weathered many storms. But this last one has already taken a big toll.
"I can't afford to go back to a hotel," he said. "I'm still going to have to go out and eat because I can't cook or anything here."
Robin's wife is diabetic and now powerless without a working life alert system.
"She cannot walk very well, so getting her around or out of the house has become very important because her health deteriorates very quickly," said Stewart.
Power companies are getting help from other states. A crew from California worked in Kent Monday, and said they're here for the long haul.
"One thing about line work is your wife's always asking when you're coming home and you never know," laughed lineman Nick Hunter.
At the peak of the storm, PSE had 210,000 customers without power.
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