In Second Storm, Some Lose Power for the Second Time Treacherous driving in Dix Hills on Long Island on Thursday. Todd Woodard, an actor, went to bed around midnight on Wednesday night happy that things were finally getting back to normal. After a flurry of canceled flights, he had reunited with his family in Jersey City. After days of bouncing around friends" homes, his 2-year-old son and 4-year-old daughter were warm in their own beds. After a week without power, his cellphone was charging by his bedside. He woke up to his son's screams around 5 a.m. Thursday. "Mommy and Daddy, it's too dark!" he was whimpering, distressed that his night light had switched off. Mr. Woodard's phone, too, was only partially charged. As of Thursday afternoon, his utility, Public Service Electric and Gas, still could not tell him when power might be restored. "The kids keep asking us, "Mommy and Daddy, why are you getting so frustrated?" " he said. And so it went, all over the region, as people rediscovered the joys of electricity for a day or two only to be plunged back into frustration when heavy snows downed power lines and took out transformers on Wednesday. Howls went up all over again in voices made extra plaintive by the powerless week they had already endured. A Queens man who had enjoyed power for 24 hours learned he would have to spend at least one more night powering his boiler with his car battery to keep his baby warm. A Long Island doctor faced the prospect of continuing to charge her hospital pager in the car - and of finding gas to keep the car running. New Jersey was particularly hard-hit by both Hurricane Sandy and the northeaster. At least 230,000 homes there lost power from the northeaster. PSE&G said it had restored power to 18,000 of the 90,000 customers affected by the Northeaster, with another 20,000 to come after a switching station is repaired; Jersey Central Power and Light said 120,000 customers had been affected. Consolidated Edison, which serves New York City and Westchester County, reported that 55,000 homes lost power, about 45,000 of which had been restored. While acknowledging that many people had suffered greater losses in the storms, those who had the unwanted distinction of going without power twice in one week spoke of how their nerves, already frayed, were strained again. With ill humor, they returned to the all-too-familiar routines: take out the flashlights, bundle up and, of course, call the utility to complain. "I would say PSE&G's response would have to be an order of magnitude better before they would rise to the level of abysmal," said David Sarna, 64, who complained of living "in a third-world country called Teaneck, New Jersey." Without power, he had been unable to conduct business with his company in California. They can't understand how we don't have power for such a long period of time, and frankly, I can't either! When power returned on Tuesday, his wife returned to Teaneck to reopen her office and they restocked their refrigerator. Now it was all wasted. "You say, "Great, life's back to normal, we can forget about this," " he said. Next thing you know, you see the lights go out again. Unable to work from her powerless home and unable to reach her Manhattan office, Susan Mazo, 39, a music executive who lives in Montclair, N.J., took her family on a "hurrication" to Philadelphia. On Monday, when Ms. Mazo learned from neighbors that their power was back, "I cried," Ms. Mazo said. But still, after so long, you're very cautious to believe it's going to stay on. She and her son were talking about how relieved they were to have electricity again Wednesday afternoon when the lights flicked off around them. The power returned an hour later. Across the street, teachers and students at Bradford Elementary School had just finished their first day of class since the hurricane. "Everybody was elated to be here on Wednesday, everybody was just so happy to be back," said Naomi Kirkman, the principal. And then when the power went out at the end of the day, it was just that horrible sinking feeling of oh no, not again! In East Brunswick, N.J., John Pernice, 82, had survived eight powerless days with extra blankets and a propane tank that he used to heat water for coffee and tea. He was so excited to get power back, he said, that he invited his daughter, whose house still lacked power, to visit. She was on her way when Mr. Pernice's lights went out again. "I thought, "Oh, my God, are we going to have another week like this?" " he said. Christopher Maag contributed reporting.