Ten of thousands of New Yorkers who lost their electricity due to Thursday's tornadoes had their power restored by Consolidated Edison Saturday evening, and the utility also distributed dry ice to many Queens residents.

As of 6:30 p.m. Saturday, Consolidated Edison said more than 4,000 city customers were still without electricity, and almost all of them were in Queens.

However, the utility expected by the end of the night to restore power to 95 percent of the 45,000 customers who lost their power as a result of Thursday's violent storm.

The National Weather Service determined on Friday last night that the twin twisters and the macroburst, a sudden acceleration of wind coming out of a fast-moving storm that reached a width of up to five miles, created a 14-mile path of destruction across across Staten Island, Queens, and Brooklyn.

More than 250 Con Ed crews are working throughout the weekend to restore service and hope to have all the lights back on by Sunday.

"They have to go out and find equipment that serves the most people first," said Alfonso Quiroz of Con Ed. "Once they clear the brush and the trees, they work with the FDNY, they can go and asses the damage. They either go and rebuild the pole or make the repairs, reconnect and head to the next site. It's just constantly doing that over and over again."

Con Ed is reminding residents to stay away from downed power lines, because they could still be live and dangerous.

The utility also handed out dry ice in Queens on Saturday, to help people keep their food from spoiling until power is restored. The dry ice was distributed at Cunningham Park by Union Turnpike and 195th Street, Juniper Valley Park at Juniper Boulevard South and 80th Street and Memorial Park at 149th Street and 25th Avenue.

"We're trying to take care of my girlfriend's aunt who is 93 years old and can't get anywhere," said one man picking up dry ice. "We're trying to provide the cold temperature she needs for the refrigerator so she doesn't have to go out of the house."

In Bayside, Queens, Brian McNally said he was almost out of patience, after trees took down nearby power lines on Thursday and he was forced to rely on flashlights, solar power and LED lights.

"There's no hot water, no electricity, no heat," he said. "Little things that you take for granted and you don't think about, all of a sudden becomes these monumental nightmares to get over. Of course you can't see anything."

As McNally's neighbors continued their clean up, they also wondered when they would be able to power up.

"My neighbors here, some of them are elderly. They need power pretty quick," said one local.

Con Ed is reminding customers to avoid opening freezers to see if food is still frozen. The company says fully loaded freezers will keep food from thawing for up to 48 hours.

New Yorkers without power should turn at least one light switch to the "on" position to know when power has been restored.

New Yorkers should call 1-800-75-CONED for more information or to report an outage.

Parks Officials, Councilman Spar Over Private Tree Removal

The Parks Department is also working through the weekend to clean up downed trees so roads can be reopened.

Parks Commissioner Adrian Benepe said 400 department staff and contractors have worked 12-hour shifts since Thursday to focus on the areas where damage is threatening public safety first.

At the urging of local and state officials, Federal Emergency Management Agency officials are determining this weekend whether the affected locations are a disaster area, so that the agency can provide direct money to businesses and localities.

Benepe said the damage from Thursday's storm was the worst he had seen since the aftermath of Hurricane Gloria in 1986.

"There is a multi-agency effort going on right now. The Parks Department has 400 working who are clearing streets and removing trees from houses. We have eight or 10 private contracting crews working alongside us," said the commissioner.

Parks officials say they do not want people taking things into their own hands, but rather want people to volunteer in the clean-up effort under Parks Department supervision.

"We want people to work in a safe way. Don't try to chop down a tree yourself, don't try to use a chainsaw yourself," said Benepe.

Queens Councilman Dan Halloran, however, is asking the city to allow homeowners to remove city trees and branches from their own property.

The lawmaker is asking the Parks Department to relax its rules prohibiting private citizens or contractors from cutting and removing city trees with out a permit, and is calling on the Parks Department to waive the fee it charges people who do so.

Halloran said there a dozens of streets blocked that could prevent emergency vehicles from getting through, and the clean up would go a lot faster if homeowners were able to pitch in.

"I think the city needs to take a dose of common sense. And common sense is, you don't enforce a rule which is designed to keep the landscape of the city okay while we're in the middle of what is effectively a disaster area," said Halloran.

The councilman said the rules should be observed when it comes to removing trees near powerlines.

The Parks Department said it got more than 5,000 calls about downed trees and about 3,000 of them came from Queens.

Twin Tornadoes Ripped Up City

National Weather Service officials announced last night that Thursday's first tornado touched down in Park Slope, Brooklyn, spreading damage for about two miles with maximum winds of 80 mph.

Authorities said the width of that storm spread about 75 yards.

The second, more powerful tornado hit just south of Flushing, Queens and traveled out to Bayside with winds of 100 mph.

Middle Village and Forest Hills got slammed by the powerful macroburst, which tore down trees and power lines with 125 mph winds.

A map that shows the location of all of Thursday's 311 calls clearly shows where the storm wound through the city.

There was one reported death during the storm. Aline Levakis, 30, was killed when a tree crushed her car on the Grand Central Parkway in Forest Hills, Queens.

The National Weather Service says before Thursday's storm, only eight twisters had hit the city since 1950.

Meanwhile, Long Island Rail Road service was back on track this weekend after being shut down because of the storm.

The LIRR was forced to suspend service for hours in and out of Pennsylvania Station Thursday night.

Penn Station itself had to close because of overcrowding.

For the latest transit updates, tune to NY1 Rail and Road 24/7, which is available on Time Warner Cable Channel 104 in New York City and Channel 91 in New Jersey.