This story was updated at 8:40 a.m. Tuesday

Nearly 10,000 people are still waiting for power to return in Howard County after a storm ripped through the region and knocked out power across Maryland.

As of Tuesday morning, 9,932 Howard County residents were still without power, reported BGE, with nearly 50,000 people in the county who now have their power restored.

BGE efforts have included more than 1,300 out-of-state workers who are responding to power outages across the state, the company has said.

State officials reported that six people in total have died in Maryland as a result of Friday night’s storm.

Tell us in comments: How are you helping your neighbors without power?

In Howard County, 14 schools will be closed Tuesday; all activities at those schools are also cancelled, the school district announced. Eighteen schools in the county were closed on Monday from the power outages.

Columbia Association pools continue to be open Tuesday for Howard County residents still without power.

Patience was waning Monday among those still waiting for power to be restored. 

"I think at 5 Saturday afternoon, I was ready for power to come back on," said Howard County blogger Lisa Schlossnagle, a mother of three from Fulton. "My sense of adventure is gone. It’s been challenging not to grumble and complain."

Meanwhile, county businesses, libraries and cooling centers have seen hundreds come through their doors in search of refuge.

• At least 40 people have used the showers offered to non-members at the YMCA in Ellicott City, staff said Monday.

• At least 600 people visited the Elkridge branch of Howard County Library Sunday, which was open as a cooling shelter, staff said.

• On Saturday and Sunday, The Columbia Association’s outdoor pools welcomed 1,127 Howard County residents whose power was out and who had come to cool down for free, according to the CA.

Stories of the storm and its manifestations spilled out Monday.

A total of 200 dogs were without power (along with the employees who cared for them) at the Preston Country Club for Pets on Old Columbia Pike; employees there said they were unable to notify owners due to power outages.

Employees sought refuge from the heat by going outside.

“In a word, it’s hot,” said Josh Arnold. “Hot, sticky and gross.”

The heat is expected to continue, with highs of 92 expected in the area Tuesday.

In the Mount Hebron neighborhood in Ellicott City, one resident said cleaning up debris from two storms was “like a war zone.”

Xiaojun Jie said he is considering moving – not because of the power outages, just to have more space as his family grows. But if he doesn’t move, he said he will need to buy a generator.

“Every time there’s a weather event and people lose power,” he said, “We are those people.

“There’s no chance to escape.”

A resident in the Valley Mede neighborhood in Ellicott City had her own strange storm story to tell: When a branch fell onto a power line near her home Friday night she said, "It caused a shower of sparks and a small fire that fused the fallen branch into a pine tree."

On Monday in King's Contrivance, one family watched a tree service remove a giant pine tree that had fallen on their home as a result of the storm.

Paul Caci, who works from his Columbia home, said, "I told my boss today, here’s the situation—we have a tree on the house."

See related coverage:

14 Schools Closed Tuesday

Day 3 Without Power: Residents Try to Cope

200 Dogs Without Power at Columbia Pet Care Center

Neighborhood Power Outage: 'No Chance to Escape' 

'A Shower of Sparks' in Valley Mede

State Death Count Rises to 6

WATCH: Giant Tree Removed from Columbia Home

- With reporting from Brandie Jefferson, Andrew Metcalf, Elizabeth Janney and Brian Hooks