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Kimberly Houk reportingFor the thousands of people who are still without power, remaining cheerful is getting more difficult. For many, it's been two days of wearing extra clothes, sitting by a fire, and making many phone calls to the power company!
Nine-thousand five hundred homes were still without power Saturday night. And those in the dark are growing increasingly frustrated.
The power company says they know people are frustrated after spending the past 48 hours in the dark.
We've received hundreds of phone calls at KSL from people who say they've called the power company several times, but have run into problems with their automated phone system.
Maxine Gonzales/Salt Lake City resident: "About four o'clock this morning is when it seemed like I couldn't get enough blankets on me."
People are cold. And they're doing everything they can think of to get warmer... from holding hot water bottles to bundling up in blankets in front of wood burning stoves.
Annabelle Diaz: "When I called around to see if anybody needed wood today, one of the neighbors said they've got their fireplace going and their house was only 43 degrees. She was just freezing."
It's been two days since these people have been able to turn on their heater, and it may be even longer before the power company fixes their power.
Margaret Kesler/ Utah Power: "We've got 34 line crews out there working right now and 14 tree cutting crews. They're moving from spot to spot as quickly as they can."
Crews are re-stringing every downed power line, but sometimes that only restores power to a few houses at a time.
Carol Linder/ Salt Lake City Resident: "Now we're to Saturday afternoon. It's been a full 36 hours without power. We still cannot get a message from Utah Power as to when they'll turn our power back on."
Officials say they've been flooded with calls and their phone system is overloaded. That's why people are getting recorded messages that don't make sense.
The power company is working to fix these problems so people like Maxine Gonzales and others don't have to endure another bitterly cold night.
Maxine Gonzales/ Salt Lake City Resident: "I didn't even go into bed. It was too cold to change my clothes."
The power company says it may take until Monday to get everyone's power back on.
There have even been reports of people throwing things at linemen as they work on their power lines. And the power company is pleading with everyone to please be patient... they're working as fast as they can.
