P.E.I.'s main power provider says it is making headway in restoring power to thousands of residents who were cut off after an ice storm battered the province this week.
That came just two days after P.E.I.'s premier was advised the military was just a phone call away if the situation escalated into a state of emergency.
Maritime Electric now says fewer than 3,000 people in the central and western regions of the island are still without electricity as 37 crews work to restore power.
"We've had from 25,000 down to 16,000 down to 11,000 down to 8,000 yesterday and now we're down to nearly 2,700 customers that are currently without power in Prince Edward Island," Kim Griffin of Maritime Electric told CTV's Canada AM on Friday.
Despite the progress, she said the power company is warning residents there could be scattered outages lasting through the weekend when temperatures are expected to remain below zero and freezing rain warnings were in place for the entire province.
Residents are coming together to look out for each other, she said.
"People, our customers, islanders and neighbours, have been amazing to help each other out," Griffin said.
"They've been knocking on doors, specially with people that live alone, the elderly or seniors, and it's incredible the hospitality of islanders."
Premier Robert Ghiz said the situation was improving dramatically.
"We're in a much better situation today," Ghiz told CTV's Canada AM on Friday.
"We're down to about 2,700 homes without power now but if you look back to Wednesday we were in a situation where pretty much the entire island was without power."
Ghiz said warmer than expected weather and rain melted much of the ice that accumulated on power lines, and as a result it wasn't necessary to declare a state of emergency and call the military for help.
Marcia Carroll, of the Canadian Red Cross, said emergency responders have carried out a "well-co-ordinated" response, providing shelters, warm clothes, food and water to those affected by the storm.
"We are in a very good situation," she told Canada AM.
"There have been no fatalities and islanders are used to this kind of weather -- they're resilient and taking care of themselves and making use of the resources made available to them."
Legions, fire halls and community centres in affected communities were turned into emergency shelters Thursday evening as some people prepared to be without electricity through the weekend.
Residents staying at one shelter on Thursday told Â鶹´«Ã½ that the staff was making a difficult time a little less stressful.
"Just the hospitality -- (They're) just really kind folks. We've been blown away," said Susan Doiron.
