UPDATED: Some Neighborhoods Still Dark; More Than 36 Hours Without Power

Irene's power tumbled numerous trees and knocked power out to about 75 percent of Framingham on Sunday. Monday morning . Slowly neighborhoods have been lighting up, but some are still dark.

Nstar could not specifically say how many customers were without power in Framingham. Early Monday, it estimated about 200,000 customers had no power in Massachusetts. As of 7 p.m., NStar said it had lowered that number to just over 90,000 customers.

Based on emails, texts, and posts to the Framingham Patch Facebook page, many of those who had power restored were in Framingham.

The Harrington Road neighborhood saw light again around dinnertime. Kindercare had lights and so did many of the residentials homes in that neighborhood.

Lots of residents emails, texted and posted on Framingham Patch Facebook, when parts of Nobscot, including portions of Hemenway Road, had powered restored just after dinner Monday night.

Buffy Cave told Patch Janebar Circle came back on after 33 hours about 7:15 p.m. Monday and Elmfield got lights back about 6:45 p.m. "YAY! thanks NSTAR!"

Maureen Neiberger said Pleasantview Terrace got power back around 7 p.m., after 33 hours. 

However several neighborhoods are still in the dark, including area. Crews were working on Temple Street about 7 p.m. Motorists could not take a left turn onto Salem End Road from Winter. Motorist wanting to travel down Temple off Route 9, to CVS or Stop & Shop, which was on generator power, were blocked by cones.

While many residents were complaining about Salem End Road and Temple Street neighborhoods without power, resident David Picard had a little more patience.

"The lines are still blocking Salem End and Temple. NStar could do nothing until Verizon put in the new poles because Verizon owns all the poles in Framingham. They're here now trying to get the lines up and off the road as Verizon put the poles up last night between 8 p.m. and 3 a.m. ... I wouldn't be too hard on them - there's a lot of damage and limited crews that have dependencies on each other to get the work done in the right order," he wrote to Patch.

Kim Rosenberg told Patch her parents on Angelica drive had been without power for more than 36 hours at 9 p.m. Monday and Nstar said power may not be restored until Saturday.

On Sunday, a giant tree was blocking the Monday, the bridge was passable, but parts of Main Street, Walnut Street and the Hamilton Plaza West on Route 9, along with the stripmall with  O'Connell's Pub and Ski market were all without power. Across the street, Walgreens and Ruby Tuesday's were business as open and the parking lot was packed.

despite no power, made the best of it. Owner Lori Karlsson posted on Facebook Monday night, "We had our first glow in the dark party at Whimsy today! No power but our birthday girl and guests didn't seem to mind. Mining for gems in the dark made for an extra special treasure hunt. We were still able to take walk-ins too. Let's see what tomorrow brings. Hoping for power at Whimsy and at home."

And Whimsy wasn't the only business to open without power. Route 9 Wine & Spirits was open, but for cash sales only.

Residents of the Georgetown Apartments, behind the plaza, have had no power since Sunday. Some residents went shopping to the Natick Mall and Shoppers World, where there was power. Some were out walking their dogs and others were out on their decks enjoying the sun; but none were in the pool despite the 75 degree weather. No electricity means no pump, thus no pool.

Leslie Harvey and her daughters were off to Whole Foods Market across the street to find something to eat and to take advantage of the wi-fi. She said the place was busy and she got the last outlet to charge her cell phone and take advantage of the wi-fi. Starbucks in the plaza was also busy. Many again were taking advantage of the wi-fi.

Others braved it at home, until the power returned. Laura Richards said she got through the storm with coffee, candles and sterno cans.

"We made two batches of coffee first thing in the morning and put one in a insulated carafe, just in case we had no power on Monday morning. I learned the hard way with losing power during the blizzard last winter," she said.

When it came to dinner, she grilled and "heated corn in my trusty sauce pan over two sterno cans. It makes you appreciate what we have and what so many in the world don’t on a daily basis. Our neighborhood loses power fairly frequently so I always have sterno cans on hand along with flashlights, candles, batteries and a scanner. I am also going to get a regular landline phone to add to my kit, as we have to rely only on cell phones when we lose power," she said.

Richards wasn't the only one who used her survival skills. Krista Allen told Patch she was ready for a power outage. "Already prepared with solar charger for electronics post-storm. We used it to watch the final shuttle launch from a state park this summer.

Irene, as she rolled through Framingham, seemed selective on which neighborhoods lost power and which didn't.

In Nobscot, the fire station and Hemenway elementary was on generator power still at dinner time on Monday, but across the street the almost vacant plaza had power. CVS was doing brisk business. At the corner, one gas station had pumps but the Middlesex savings Bank and CJ's Grill were both without power, with signs on the door to let customers know.  

Target on Route 30 was very crowded on Sunday night and again on Monday, while Wal-Mart was still without power at 3 p.m.

I drove through many neighborhoods Monday. Many residents had already finished clean up in some areas before noon and were headed out to restaurants and stores. Other residents were sweeping or collecting sticks and debris.

The town of Framingham operated on a normal trash schedule. The Department of Public Works is still trying to compile a plan for what residents can do with the tree/branch debris.

In the meantime, I witnessed several yellow DPW trucks pull off to the side of roads and collect debris. They also were hauling away large branches at ends of streets.