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UPDATE: 6:56 p.m. There were nearly 121,000 customers in New York City without power after Hurricane Irene barreled down on the region Sunday morning, bringing rains that could force the utility to cut power to Lower Manhattan if flooding becomes widespread.

In Long Island, 418,000 customers didn't have power. In New Jersey, 330,000 PSE&G customers were without power and 383,000 from JCP&L were in the dark. Central Hudson Gas and Electric said 100,000 customers have been affected.

Sarah Banda, a spokesperson for Con Ed, said the winds and falling trees are the biggest problem so far, and that should continue throughout the day.

"We are expecting that our overhead system will take the brunt of the hurricane affecting customers in Brooklyn, Bronx, Staten Island and Queens and Westchester. Right now, we have 25,000 in Queens that are without power."

On Saturday, Con Edison’s Senior Vice President of Electric Operations, John Miksad, said the company has 17,000 crew members working throughout the storm to monitor the system for impact, including flooding.  The company also called in an additional 400 crews from other locations.

While it’s not possible to predict the severity of the storm’s impact, Miksad said that during a bruising nor’easter in March 2010, some 175,000 customers in New York City and Westerchester County lost power.  He said the difference with Hurricane Irene is that the winds are expected to be stronger and the duration of the storm itself is expected to be longer.

So far, officials said Con Ed has already turned off 10 miles of steam lines scattered across the lower Manhattan. The shutdown is expected to impact 50 customers mainly below Canal Street.  The steam shutdown requires workers to manually turn off 35 valves; workers have already turned off 25 of them.  The use of steam power varies by building but can be used to heat, cool, and provide hot water at buildings.

LIPA said it would be difficult to say how long it would take for people to get their power back. A LIPA spokeswoman said it was like that some would be without power for 24 hours or more.  At this point, hospitals and evacuation shelters are the priority. Surveyors were working to assess the damage and restoration crews were visiting substations to restore power.

Connecticut Light and Power said 638,000 people were without power in the state, with a spokesman for the company, adding that people in the eastern half of the state was impacted more.

Connecticut Governor Dannel Malloy warned that the heavy rain may have ended, but but the state could still experience high winds.

Hurricane — now Tropical Storm — Irene knocked out power for 4 million people. According to New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, aproximately 936,000 people were without power in New York statewide.