HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) — Crews worked feverishly Wednesday to restore power to nearly 1.2 million Northeastern homes and businesses after a freak weekend snowstorm, while many schoolchildren again stayed home and some residents languished for a fourth day in shelters that provided heat and meals.

Connecticut, the hardest-hit state, still had nearly 550,000 customers without power, down from more than 800,000. Huge swaths of the state also lost power for days to the remnants of Hurricane Irene in August, and residents were growing restless.

“We understand the frustration everybody is feeling,” said Jeffrey Butler, president of Connecticut Light & Power Co., the state’s largest utility. The company was on track to fix 99 percent of the remaining outages by Sunday, he said — a full week after the storm.

Classes were canceled in many areas for a third day, including a dozen districts in northern New Jersey. Some districts worried they’d use all their anticipated snow days even before the start of winter.

The state still had 180,000 homes and businesses without power — a far cry from the 700,000 in the dark during the height of the storm Saturday. Crews reported progress elsewhere, too. Maryland utilities reported scattered outages — a total of about 330, down from more than 40,000.

More than 3 million people lost power from Maryland to Maine as leaves that had yet to drop captured wet, heavy snow — from about an inch to more than 30 in spots — and snapped branches and trees that took down power lines across the region. The storm has been blamed for at least 25 deaths, most through traffic accidents, falling trees or electrocutions from downed power lines.