Let there be light!

Power restoration crews are making major progress in their storm recovery efforts, as the Bay State power outage totals significantly dropped on Thursday.

Meanwhile, some roads were still blocked on the hard-hit South Coast, which got a whopping three feet of snow from the historic blizzard earlier this week. Plow crews were continuing to work to open streets back up three days after the storm.

“We’re not out of this yet,” Gov. Maura Healey said during a press conference from Fall River. The governor called the South Coast region “ground zero” for the record-setting blizzard.

“We’re working around the clock to help communities clear and get back to business as usual,” she added.

The governor noted that kids in many communities were still not back at school, and that’s “really tough for parents and families in those districts.”

As of 5:30 p.m. on Thursday, 29,014 Bay State households remained without power. The majority of the outages were on the Cape and South Shore.

During the peak of power outages from this storm, there were close to 300,000 households without power.

“I know it’s frustrating as hell to be without power,” Healey said, noting that the utility companies could not restore power until the winds died down and the snow was cleared.

“But they have been getting after it as you can see, intensively, over the last 72 hours,” Healey added. “…And they’re just going to continue to bang out that work aggressively today and for as long as it takes… I really hope that we see the remaining power outages clear very soon and then get the rest of the snow out from these communities.”

Eversource said it was on track to have most customers restored by Friday night.

“Even in the face of harsh conditions and long hours, our dedicated employees and out-of-state crews continue to give their all for our customers and are making great progress restoring power as quickly as safety allows,” said Eversource President of Massachusetts Electric Operations Doug Foley.

“We know how frustrating it is for our customers who are still without power, and we want them to know our massive contingent of crews is working urgently and tirelessly to make the necessary repairs that will bring them back online. We won’t stop until the job is done,” Foley added.

Healey thanked Northeast governors — from New York, Connecticut and Vermont — for providing snow-clearing equipment to Massachusetts. MassDOT also surged dump trucks and plows to the South Coast.

Crews were prioritizing routes that are necessary for emergency services and then “really working our way to those neighborhoods and elsewhere that need to get opened up,”said MassDOT Undersecretary and Highway Administrator Jonathan Gulliver.

“We really appreciate everybody’s patience. We know this is frustrating, especially if you’re currently snowed in,” Gulliver added. “We are working with our municipal partners as hard as we can to get to you, and to open those streets up. I’m really hopeful that everywhere across this region, we will be at least getting to passable roadways sometime in the next 24 to 48 hours.”

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