HOUSTON -- Power outages caused by Hurricane Rita could last for a few more weeks, KPRC Local 2 reported Wednesday.

Entergy said most of its power lines have been repaired. However, fixing damage to the structures that feed the power lines remains a bigger problem.

Entergy's CEO said at the height of the storm, 280,000 Texas customers were without power. Approximately 34,000 customers have been restored, leaving 246,000 still without electricity -- five days after the storm.

The energy company said it cannot provide specifics on the outages and would only say that it will be several weeks before everyone has electricity.

Entergy said 142,000 customers are living with rolling blackouts. Customers were told the blackouts would last only one hour, but instead are lasting up to 16 hours. Company officials said the rolling blackouts should end by late Thursday or Friday.

A rolling blackout hit a Woodlands preschool during naptime. If the power wasn't restored quickly, parents were going to have to pick up their children early.

"The building is cool now, but in four to six hours, it can heat up," said Kelly Anderson, with Stepping Stones Preschool.

Regina Patterson lives in Conroe near FM 1314. She and her husband have been without electricity since Saturday.

"I don't sleep very well because it's so hot just sleeping with the windows open," Patterson said.

The Pattersons have a generator to power their motor home, where they stay when the house becomes too unbearable.

"When (my husband's) so hot, his clothes are just sopped. I get him to lay down in (the motor home) for a little bit," Regina Patterson said.

Shirlene Crystal can't wait weeks for her electricity. Her husband is a dialysis patient, so they are moving into a hotel.

"It just got to be too hot -- miserable," Crystal said.

Entergy said it is giving priority to repairing the grids that lead to refineries and hospitals.

Neighborhoods on a larger power grid are also given priority over those on a smaller grid.

As of Wednesday afternoon, CenterPoint Energy said it has 37,500 customers still without electricity.

Meanwhile, Gov. Rick Perry issued an emergency order allowing the East Texas utility Entergy to immediately erect temporary power lines and plug into the Houston area utility to get electricity flowing to the hardest hit areas.

Perry asked the U.S. Department of Energy to sign a waiver allowing Entergy to plug into CenterPoint Energy's power source on the state's main electric grid and transmit it from Houston into the affected areas.