As of noon Wednesday, utility companies have restored power to 85.8 percent of Bladen County customers.

Duke Power, with 8,796 customers in Bladen County, still has 1,677 outages. It has restored power to 81.9 percent of its customers.

Four County, which serves 10,755 customers in Bladen County, is at 91.3 percent restoration. Only 1,103 customers remained without power Wednesday morning.

“The remaining outages, in part, represent individual services that will make progress seem slower,” read a Four County press release. “In these cases, the repair teams were able to energize a whole line, but a individual’s house has damage confined only to their service. Also, several broken poles throughout the system remain to be replaced affecting many services as well.

We understand those still without power are feeling very frustrated being in the dark for so long. We’ve got a team of about 300, including Four County EMC employees, who are working as safely and quickly as possible to get everyone back in service.”

The release also states that while customer homes may not be under water, the problem resulting in the outage may be under water and inaccessible.

“We’re just having to wait for waters to recede in some areas,” said Four County spokesperson Gay Johnson. “We’re confident we will have everyone restored soon.”

Four County hopes to have the majority of its Bladen County customers restored by Friday, Oct. 14, and Duke Energy is giving a restoration date of Sunday, Oct. 15. Both companies stress there may still be small pockets of outages beyond that point.