AKRON, Ohio (AP) -- A spokesman for Ohio's FirstEnergy Corp. says its East Coast customers hit by Hurricane Irene won't all have their power back on until next week.

Spokesman Mark Durbin tells The News-Herald of Willoughby ( http://bit.ly/qp8DiE ) that FirstEnergy crews from as far as Toledo in northwest Ohio are working to restore service in New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Maryland.

Akron-based FirstEnergy said that about 280,000 of its customers in those states had no power as of Tuesday morning. That's down from more than 920,000 who were left in the dark after the storm hit on Sunday.

The company says severe flooding has hampered efforts to assess damage and restore electricity. Durbin said Monday that some FirstEnergy substations were under water.

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Information from: The News-Herald, http://www.news-herald.com/jrc-html/index/index-p33.html