Warmer weather melted most of the snow on Tuesday, but the damage from Monday’s winter storm that blanketed the area with up to 10 inches of snow is still being felt in southeastern Nebraska.

As of Wednesday morning, about 350 people, mostly in rural parts of southern Gage County, were still without power.

More than 2,000 NPPD customers were without power at the height of the winter storm on Monday.

Andrea Shafer of Norris Public Power District, said NPPD, as well as five other power districts, worked until about 10 p.m. Tuesday night trying to restore power to customers.

The 350 remaining powerless customer count is significantly lower than the 1,500 people that were still without power Tuesday afternoon in southern Gage, southeastern Jefferson

and a small portion of

Thayer counties.

Liberty, Barneston and Lewiston were still lacking power as of Tuesday afternoon, but all three towns now have power restored, Shafer said.

Power lines are sagging and poles have snapped off or been knocked over in many locations, which is contributing to the power outages.

Shafer estimated a couple hundred broken poles in the affected areas in addition to a broken conductor.

As of Tuesday evening, Omaha Public Power District reported about 840 people without power in its territory, down from about 2,200 Monday. Those outages were primarily in Richardson, Pawnee, Johnson and Nemaha counties.

OPPD said its offices in Tecumseh and Humboldt will be closed during the restoration process so personnel there could help.

The utility estimates about 150 power poles were damaged or destroyed, leaving power lines on the ground. Residents are being cautioned to treat every downed line as a live wire.

The Beatrice Board of Public Works is also helping with power restoration efforts. BPW worker Matt Strouf and two other workers stopped in Barneston to pick up some more power poles to replace broken ones Tuesday afternoon.

He said progress has been made, but “there’s still quite a bit to do.”

Joyce Bednar and her husband August live 11 miles south of Beatrice and went more than a day without electricity. Joyce said the most difficult thing about the power outage was having to do without water for a day.

“The heat wasn’t that big of an issue,” Bednar said. “It got pretty cool, but during some times of the year, it could have been down to zero (degrees), which is a lot worse.”

Joyce said the couple spent most of Tuesday in Lincoln and by the time they got home that night, power had been restored.

The American Red Cross opened an emergency shelter at the Wymore Fire Hall on Monday.

"Nobody ended up staying the night," said Rosemary Niemeier, manager of the Southeast Nebraska Chapter of the American Red Cross. "They heard that the power was back on, so they all left."

Linda Myers, who lives near Holmesville, agreed that things could have been much worse.

Myers said her family used a generator  to keep power in their home and her biggest concern was making sure the food in the freezer didn’t go bad.

“I’m feeling pretty comfortable with how things were handled,” Myers said. “There’s a lot of help. Hopefully everybody will get back to where they need to be soon.”