As residents throughout the region continued to dig out from the biggest snowstorm in more than 15 years, utilities battled to restore power to tens of thousands of customers and road crews worked overtime to plow roads clogged with heavy snow, slush and ice.

Gov. Ed Rendell has dispatched the National Guard to Pittsburgh and Allegheny County to assist fire, ambulance and police as public works crews continue to clear the streets of the nearly two feet of snow that fell across the region Friday and Saturday, felling hundreds of trees and pulling down electrical wires.

In Allegheny County, the number of people without power Sunday evening had been reduced to 24,000 from a high of 80,000 on Saturday, according to a news release from Allegheny County.

The Port Authority has restored limited bus service on multiple routes across Allegheny County, but buses are not running on many routes because of difficult road conditions.

The T should be up and running for morning rush hour, the Port Authority announced. Service has been restored to the Mon Incline. Riders should check www.portauthority.org for updated information.

Allegheny County and 34 municipalities have declared states of emergency.

Kevin Evanto, a county spokesman, said the disaster emergency declaration enables the county and municipalities to take all necessary actions to address storm-related issues, including bypassing standard procurement and contract procedures to hire temporary workers, rent equipment, and purchase supplies and materials.

"The declaration also positions the county and municipalities to request resources, assistance and funding from the commonwealth and federal governments if needed," Mr. Evanto said.

Allegheny County also announced that, to reduce traffic volume, only essential county government offices will be open today.

President Judge Donna Jo McDaniel has ordered the Allegheny County Court of Common Pleas closed today. The order covers all divisions and departments of the court.

The court closure does not effect the 24-hour preliminary arraignment operation.

Driving conditions continue to be challenging throughout the region, and in some areas of Allegheny County, roads are still covered in snow and slush. Due to heavy snow and ice, trees and power lines have continued to fall.

The county is advising motorists to limit driving and stay off streets and roads to allow public works crews, power companies and emergency responders to do their work.

Call volumes to the Allegheny County 911 remain high -- 15,000 over the last 24 hours compared to the normal 4,000 a day. The county reminds residents to call 911 only to report emergencies.

The Allegheny County Public Works Department reported that the vast majority of county-owned roads are clear of snow and ice, but because of falling trees and downed power lines, the following roads are closed: Lougeay Road, Wilkins; Cliff Mine Road, North Fayette; Pangburn Hollow Road, Elizabeth; Glen Avenue, Shaler; and Scotia Hollow Road, Jefferson Hills.

"The road conditions are still precarious," said Jim Struzzi, spokesman for the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation.

"Everything is open now except for those roads where power lines have fallen, but even the interstates have patches of compacted snow and ice that, because of the lower temperatures, are not melting."

Baldwin Borough police Chief Michael Scott said falling trees and wires in the streets have forced the closing of Glass Run from State Route 885 to Joseph Street; Streets Run Road from Delwar Road to Brentwood Road; and the 1700 block of Prospect Street at its intersection with Streets Run Road.

"We've got some live wires down and power has been out in the north end of the borough since Saturday night," Chief Scott said. "It's been difficult to get any emergency vehicles in and out of there and we've been bringing people out one house at a time."

Duquesne Light said it had reduced the number of customers without power as of Sunday evening from a high of 57,000 to 6,400. Joseph Vallarian, a Duquesne Light spokesman, said some customers have been without power since Friday night but the company is systematically working through the outages and expects to have power restored to most customers by midnight today and to all customers by Wednesday afternoon.

Allegheny Power struggled Sunday to return power to 82,000 of its customers in Pennsylvania, including nearly 36,000 still without electricity in Washington County and almost 10,600 -- more than half of the power company's customers -- in Greene County.

Another 36,000 Allegheny Power customers were without power in West Virginia, as well as 5,800 in Virginia.

David Neurohr, an Allegheny Power spokesman, said Sunday that while electricity will be restored to most in the next 24 hours, some will be without power for an "extended period of time" and for "pockets of people it will be a multi-day event."

"The widespread nature and extent of the storm's damage has hampered the ability of our crews to get back into some very rural, very remote, and with a storm like this, very inaccessible areas," Mr. Neurohr said.

Mr. Neurohr said all of the company's line crews are out, and Allegheny Power also has also contracted with up to 1,000 outside contractors and brought in hundreds of trained crews from other utilities not hit by the storm in western Ohio and southern New York.

He said the power restoration work will be prioritized with public service buildings and hospitals getting attention first, followed by transportation systems and the largest concentrations of customers.

A mandatory water conservation order issued by Pennsylvania American Water on Saturday was lifted early Sunday, though a cautionary boil-water advisory by the state Department of Environmental Protection continued for residents in southwestern Pennsylvania who experienced a disruption in their water service stemming from the widespread power outages.

The Red Cross is operating three shelters where people can spend the night and get hearty meals. The shelters are in White Oak at the Rainbow Fire Department, 2916 Jacks Run Road; Elizabeth at the Elizabeth Forward High School, 1000 Weigles Hill Road; and Whitehall at Hamilton Presbyterian Church, 4500 Hamilton Road.

And for those who think they might take advantage of a snow day by taking in some winter sports, think again: the ice skating rinks at North and South parks are closed, as are the Boyce Park ski and snowtubing areas.

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