SANFORD — The first thing Meaghan Decourt did when the electricity to her Berwick Avenue home was turned back on Monday was crank up the heat.

Decourt, like about 3,000 other York County residents at midday Monday, had been without electric power since a storm Thursday night into Friday produced high winds and five inches of rain. All told, the storm’s fury broke 348 electric poles across Central Maine Power’s service area, said spokeswoman Gail Rice this morning.

With small children in the house, it was important to have heat restored, Decourt said Monday.

By 7:30 a.m. today, 423 customers in York County remained in the dark.

Now, municipalities across the county are busy determining damages to public infrastructure. About $600,000 worth of damage is needed in York County for a disaster declaration and about $1.6 million across the state, estimated York County Emergency Management Agency spokesman Steve Harding. If the figures are reached, Gov. John Baldacci may ask for a federal disaster declaration, which can free up federal funds to reimburse municipalities for losses.

 Rice said the power company expects to have electricity restored to all customers today.

The work, Rice said, is labor intensive and each restoration places just a few customers back on the grid.

As of this morning, Rice said most outages in York County were centered in Acton, York and South Berwick.

In Sanford, just four customers remained without power this morning, mostly in the Ridgeway Avenue area of town where on Monday, resident Denis Lavallee was maneuvering sections of a downed tree to the side of the road. The tree crashed down Thursday night, taking another tree on a neighbor’s property with it. And Lavallee was one of those who remained without power.

By 1 p.m. Monday, the county’s outages had been whittled down to 3,000, from a high of about 43,000 at the height of the storm, as electric crews and tree cutters worked to restore power. By 9:15 p.m. Monday, that number had dwindled to 890 customers county-wide.

Harding, of the county EMA,  said some roads were still closed Monday, mostly in York, Kittery Camp Ellis and other coastal locations.

At midday Monday, he said the agency had received just a handful of calls and two shelters set up by the Red Cross in South Berwick and Saco were closed.

In the meantime, EMA volunteers were dispatched all over the county, assessing damage. New portable devices allow the responders to photograph damage and sent reports directly from the field, giving workers an immediate view of damages, Harding said.

— Staff Writer Tammy Wells can be contacted at 324-4444 or twells@journaltribune.com.