"Many of these customers we simply cannot get to. There are no roads, no bridges," said Steve Costello, CVPS spokesman. "There are a lot of towns that are completely isolated."

Connecticut Power & Light, which also reported having record outages, said restoration could take a week or more.

In Massachusetts, Boston-based electric and gas investor-owned utility NStar predicts that power will not be fully restored for several days. "The damage is so extensive that, in many places, we essentially have to rebuild the electric system so we can restore power to customers, said Werner Schweiger, NStar senior vice president of operations.

Mundy says, in the days ahead, some utilities may consider replacing wooden poles with steel ones, putting in stronger bolts, insulators or other equipment in areas where they saw the most failures. However, he says, there is nothing that a utility can do to prevent the power from going out when a tree falls on a line.

Although lines can be buried underground, the cost is often prohibitive, up six times more expensive than lines and poles, Mundy says. Lines are disruptive to install, and when one fails, it takes longer to dig up and repair. "You're kind of trading hours of days to fix an underground cable. And while the underground lines are capable of dealing with a little moisture, they are not designed to be submerged in water for any length of time, he says.

Further, electric substations are not designed to withstand flooding. Mundy, however, does not expect that the utilities in New York and New Jersey that are now having to dry out their underground substations will look to move them aboveground.

"Land is valuable there," he says. "I don't think you'll see any wholesale moving of any substations." He says, however, that utilities may look at ways to improve pumping and drainage for those substations.

Ripped Up Roads

Transportation infrastructure also sustained some significant damage as Irene barreled through. In North Carolina, NCDOT officials are assessing two major storm-surge breaches along Route 12, the sole highway serving Hatteras Island on the Outer Banks. One, a 200-yd to 300-yd-wide gap at the north end of the village of Rodanthe, is part of a flood-prone section of highway that was relocated 23 feet to the west following storm damage in 2009.

The other breach, located about halfway between Rodanthe and the Oregon Inlet Bridge, is located in an area that, according to local history, has experienced numerous inlet formations and closings.

Greer Beaty, NCDOT's director of communications, says the agency currently is collecting photogrammetric, surveying and engineering data in order to determine the scope, cost and schedule for repairing the breaches. "We want to gather enough information so that we can do this right," she says. With Hatteras Island isolated from the mainland, NCDOT has established an emergency ferry service to deliver much-needed supplies to at least 2,500 still-stranded residents. National Guard troops have been deployed to Hatteras Island.

New York City subways survived the onslaught with minimal closures, but not so for transit and highways in the surrounding areas. Some of the worst transportation-related damage occurred on Metro North's Port Jervis Line that runs through Rockland County, N.Y. As of Aug. 30, much of the line remained inaccessible and under water, says an agency spokesperson.

Three 1,000-ft track sections were washed out near Sloatsburg, and one 400-ft section was submerged by as much as eight feet. The railroad planned to hire an engineering firm to inspect 24 miles of line that may need major construction repairs.

New Jersey Transit, which carries about 250,000 daily riders, remained closed on Aug. 28, 29 and 30, noting "significant" damage on its website. A spokewoman did not respond to a request for detail on the nature and location of damage. But according to published reports, there was flooding on its Port Jervis line and the heavily traveled Northeast Corridor line. Flooding in Trenton also affected Amtrak service.

Flooding also caused numerous temporary road closures in New Jersey and significant damage to a portion of Interstate 287. The fast-moving Rockaway River caused part of the northbound roadway's shoulder and right lane to wash out, according to published reports. One northbound lane was reopened late on Aug. 30.

In Vermont, the Agency of Transportation reports that crews continue to work around the clock to establish safe detours around closed roads and failed bridges. "The scope of this disaster is unprecedented in modern Vermont history, and we are responding to it as quickly as we are able," says Transportation Secretary Brian Searles.

VTrans reports more than 260 state and local road closures and major damage to the state-owned rail lines. Amtrak service on both the Vermonter and the Ethan Allen has been discontinued until further notice.

About 30 state highway bridges have been closed to traffic due to damage, with VTrans bridge inspection teams deployed to the southern counties of Bennington and Windham, where significant damage has occurred and numerous communities have been cut off from the state highway system.

"We are currently assessing damage to the statewide roadway system,” said VTrans Scott Rogers, director of operations."

A spokesman for the Massachusetts Dept. of Transportation reports that the agency has sent crews out to assess damage mostly in the western part of the state. MassDOT has sent divers out to assess scours on one of the bridge piers, a spokesman said.