Between puffs on his Omar Ortez cigar, restaurateur Domenic Branduzzi stood on a Lawrenceville corner yesterday afternoon and applied the lightness of humor to his dark situation.

"I'm one of the lucky ones who gets hit on both ends," he said.

Not only has his power been out at home since Sunday, but it's been off at his restaurant, at 38th and Butler streets.

Luckily, the Tuscan-inspired Piccolo Forno is closed Mondays. But yesterday marked the first of several expected days of lost lunch and dinner business, meaning thousands of dollars in potential sales down the drain -- along with the runny gelato and pasta sauces that couldn't keep.

"I have to rebuy everything because I make everything fresh," explained Mr. Branduzzi, 25, who was at least able to cart his stock of prosciutto, cured meats and cheese to his girlfriend's mother's refrigerator. "Obviously I'll be making a call to my insurance company."

Mr. Branduzzi was hardly alone in his neighborhood. Sunday's storm aftermath forced parts of the Lawrenceville business district on Butler Street to shut down.

Storefront after storefront displayed signs that indicated they were closed because of the persistent power outage. Many homes along 38th Street between Butler and Penn Avenue lost power, but those along 37th and 39th streets had electricity, said Tony Ceoffe, Lawrenceville United executive director.

"I just threw away about $500 worth of groceries," Mr. Ceoffe said. "We're gonna get a hotel room this evening."

Throughout the region, pockets of homeowners, renters and proprietors who remained without electricity broke out flashlights, dug out candles, stocked up on batteries and shoved food into coolers.

As of last night, nearly 59,000 customers in Western Pennsylvania were powerless, and utility companies said work would continue into Friday before power is completely restored across the area.

Hearing the grim news from power companies, Butler County officials declared a state of emergency yesterday.

County Emergency Services Director Frank Matis said the designation will allow the Red Cross to open temporary shelters for county residents at Slippery Rock High School and Knoch Middle School, as well as allow the county to buy emergency supplies without going through normal purchasing practices.

Mr. Matis said he did not expect state or federal assistance for the county because most of the damage was done to utility lines. The last time a state of emergency was declared in Butler County was after flooding from the remnants of Hurricane Ivan in 2004.

At affected homes across the area laundry piled up, stay-at-home parents tried to entertain children whose schools were without power, and people adjusted to life without TV -- though many were unhappy they had to endure life without the Steelers on Sunday.

Residents had an easy time remembering exactly when their electricity went off. They just used the Steelers game against the Cleveland Browns as a clock.

"Second quarter," said Rebecca Bruzdewicz, 40, of Lawrenceville.

Mrs. Bruzdewicz was foiled every which way over the past few days, from entertainment to eating. Besides losing the Steelers, she's also losing money. Mrs. Bruzdewicz, who is on a fixed income, figures that she and her family spent at least $100 eating out. She also tried to do laundry, but the local laundromat had lost power, too.

For some, no power meant inconvenience. For others, the lack of electricity took on a more abstract dimension.

"It's very dark and quiet. The stillness is what bothers me the most," said Elizabeth Campbell, 58, of Bellevue, as she walked her dog, Pete, on Teece Avenue. "It's eerie."

Luckily, Mrs. Campbell's power returned yesterday afternoon. But until then, she and many others interviewed for this story had no idea when Duquesne Light would restore power. The rumor mill swirled, with neighbors passing along unsubstantiated information that power would not be restored until today, tomorrow or even Friday.

"No one could tell us how long the power is going to be out," said Laura Dunhoff, 45, of Manchester. "I'm not going to be OK if it's Thursday or Friday. That would be a little much."

Duquesne Light said yesterday that power in the eastern suburbs should be entirely back on late tomorrow, while in the North Hills, South Hills and western suburbs, it will take until late Friday. The utility would not be more specific about individual neighborhoods.

By contrast, Allegheny Power gives estimated restoration times on its Web site down to each individual outage. It estimated that the last of its Washington and Westmoreland customers would be online by tonight, but it would be Friday evening before all its Allegheny, Armstrong and Butler customers are restored.

But those projections have changed during the past couple days, and Joseph Vallarian, spokesman for Duquesne Light, said that's exactly what his utility wants to avoid.

"We don't just slap a time up," he said. "We don't just say, 'OK, it will be 4 o'clock in Dormont,' for instance. We take very great care to do that and do it correctly. That's why we don't have particular times. A lot of damage is still out there. There are still trees down."

Mr. Vallarian said crews were working as fast as possible to fix the damage, and the company had brought in 76 workers from the Delaware and Philadelphia areas to help with the effort.

Despite the hassles, people without power had things to be thankful for. The weather was good, not having the boob tube for a few days was stimulating family togetherness, and gas stoves still worked.

Yes, the lucky ones can still cook ... after a fashion. Some people like Amy Guest were creative in how they tackled life without electricity, proving that necessity is, in fact, the mother of invention.

Craving breakfast, Mrs. Guest, a mother of four from Ben Avon, fired up her gas stove, got out a frying pan and treated herself to the delicacy of fried cherry Pop Tarts. The toaster, of course, was not an option.

Mrs. Guest, 42, didn't realize until it was too late that one of her daughters who had done the dishes last didn't quite clean off all the taco grease from a previous meal.

"That's when you know you hit rock bottom," Mrs. Guest said.