It has been reported that Utilities say it may be days before power is fully restored in the Washington area, hit by treacherous thunderstorms officials blamed for three deaths.

The Washington Post has reported that crews worked through the night into Monday trying to restore power to tens of thousands of people after storms accompanied by hurricane-force winds plowed down trees and power lines, sparked fires and damaged buildings.

According to Maryland Natural Resources Police, officials said a 6-year-old boy was struck and killed by a falling section of a tree in Virginia's Loudoun County and a woman was killed in College Park, Md., when a tree fell on a minivan. Warren D. Smith, 63, of Annapolis, Md., was killed when he was knocked off a water craft as he and a friend tried to make shelter near Maryland's Bay Bridge.

The Post further reported that a spokeswoman for Pepco, the region's hardest-hit utility, said power might not be fully restored until Thursday. Pepco has called in extra crews from a utility in Ohio but they will not be able to join forces with Pepco's 185 emergency crews until Tuesday morning.

A Dominion Power spokesman said the utility company expected to have power restored to most of its Northern Virginia customers by Monday night or Tuesday.

The Post also said that power was cut off to a plant supplying 70 percent of the water for Montgomery and Prince George's counties in Maryland.

The Chicago Sun-Times further said that residents in Chicago's western suburb of Westchester waded through mud and muck Sunday. Officials blamed two days of torrential rains for flooding by Addison Creek, and for overwhelming the city's aging sewage system. Heavy rains wreaked similar havoc in Cicero and other areas around Chicago. (With Inputs from Agencies)