HALIFAX -- A spokeswoman for New Brunswick's electric utility says some businesses and residents left in the dark by a weekend ice storm will have to wait until Saturday before power is restored.

Deborah Nobes said NB Power will have crews cutting away ice-laden trees and repairing downed power lines through Christmas day and into next weekend.

The Crown-owned utility is aware of the frustration the outages are causing, Nobes said Tuesday.

"We realize this is a terrible inconvenience for people and we will have crews working through Christmas," she said. "We are asking for people's patience ... It's an extreme weather event. It's had a very severe impact on our lines and on our systems. Our people are out working very hard in very difficult conditions."

By late Tuesday afternoon, more than 33,000 NB Power customers were trying to cope without electricity on Christmas Eve, almost half of them in the Saint John area. Other areas still shivering in the dark included Fredericton, Moncton, St. Stephen and Sussex.

Gaetan Thomas, CEO of NB Power, said the utility was going flat out to repair the damage caused by the storm.

"We had a lot of employees on vacation and we pulled them back. And without hesitation, everybody is out there working as hard as they can to restore power," he told CTV. "We've seen worse conditions. But because it's at a time of year when everybody is preparing for the holidays, it's very hard on people."

Thomas said the province is receiving help from 20 utility crews on loan from Nova Scotia, which has had its share of power outages.

In the Saint John area, homeowner Kevin Schyf said he and his family had been without power for 24 hours.

"It's annoying," he told CTV on Tuesday. "You have to count the number of times you flush the toilet because you only have so much water ... It's definitely been an inconvenience for sure."

At one point Monday, more than 50,000 residents in New Brunswick and Nova Scotia were without power.

In Nova Scotia, the number of outages had been cut to less than 1,000 by late Tuesday.