BALTIMORE (AP) — Gov. Martin O’Malley says he is pushing utilities to do better than their predictions of restoring power to 90 percent of homes by Friday.

During a conference call Sunday afternoon, about 597,000 state residents were without power, down from nearly a million immediately after the storm.

O’Malley said power had been restored at all power plants and big transmission lines.

He said he understands that Maryland took a hurricane-force hit without the three-day warning that usually precedes it. He added 1,300 utility workers from out-of-state were traveling to Maryland to help with the restoration effort.

(Copyright 2012 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)