Power Still Not Restored to Many in the Midwest Hundreds of thousands of Midwestern residents remained without power on Thursday after remnants of Hurricane Ike swept through the region on Sunday, bringing torrential downpours and strong winds. Many residents may not have electricity for several more days, utility companies said. In Ohio, nearly 600,000 residents have been without power since Sunday, Gov. Ted Strickland said. In Kentucky, 165,000 residents were without electricity, as were 57,500 residents of Indiana and at least 10,000 residents of western Pennsylvania, the authorities and utility companies said. Utility crews from New England, the mid-Atlantic states and the Carolinas were in the area helping to restore power, dispatched there after many local crews had been sent to Texas and Louisiana. All of those crews had returned by Thursday. "In the initial period it may have slowed down the recovery by a few hours," Governor Strickland said. But we did everything we could to make their return as rapid as possible. Tricia Ingraham, a spokeswoman for the FirstEnergy Corporation, which provides power to much of Ohio and western Pennsylvania, said the company had restored power to about 93 percent of customers affected by the storm. But because the damage was so widespread and included such large quantities of debris, it was taking crews longer than normal. Power was being restored first to the most densely populated areas, Ms. Ingraham said. "There are trees and large limbs down everywhere," she said. When you have such widespread damage and lots of local distribution lines running through backyards and fences, it makes it more difficult. Complete restoration could be at the end of the week, going into the weekend. Many school districts across the state were closed this week because of storm damage and power failures. In Kentucky, a spokeswoman for Gov. Steve Beshear said electricity might not be restored throughout the state for five more days. Dave McDevitt, 70, of North Lima, Ohio, has been without power and water (because he has a well with an electric pump) since Sunday. He is paying $105 a night for a hotel room so his family can shower, and is keeping his granddaughter's medication chilled with a cooler and ice from a neighbor's home. "I'm hauling water from my lake for the toilet," Mr. McDevitt said. We lost all the food in the freezer and refrigerator; that's close to $500. It's a disaster.