Manitoba Hydro crews were facing tough conditions after a winter storm hit parts of the province Thursday. (Courtesy: Lothar Dueck)

Manitoba Hydro is working to restore power to a few hundred remaining customers in the southeast corner of the province who remained without power on Sunday.

Hydro spokesman Scott Powell said the hardest hit areas were the RM of Piney and pockets in the Whiteshell.

He said at least 250 hydro poles were knocked down or lines disrupted by wet and heavy snowfall last Thursday and the power company has been working to restore power since then.

Terry Rousseau, 83, has been without power since Thursday at her home in Woodridge. She said she's tired after cleaning out the freezer, cooking outdoors to prevent food spoilage and heating the house with wood.

"I'm really really exhausted ... I couldn't sleep last night of course, I'm so cold," she said, adding she had never seen a storm as bad as the one which swept through the area on Thursday. "We've been here since 1983, and this is the first time. It's a total disaster, it's unbelievable."

Powell said Hydro is hopeful power will be restored to almost everyone Sunday night.

He said 88 poles had to be reset just to return service to five customers.

"We're dealing with the aftermath of a pretty major weather event," he said. "We've got a lot of broken poles. I know they've set 60, 70 poles around Piney already and they've got another 90 or so to go. We're still finding poles that are broken as we continue our repairs."

The reeve of the RM of Stuartburn said on Sunday that a state of emergency remains in effect.