Topeka ? Westar Energy Inc. officials said Wednesday that it could be up to 10 days before power is restored to 70,000 customers left in the dark by this week’s ice storms.

Chief Executive Officer Bill Moore said the storms affected 120 to 140 communities and was larger than the 2005 ice storm that caused close to $30 million in damage. Westar serves about 670,000 customers in Kansas.

“We need Mother Nature to melt the ice,” Moore said, speaking to reporters in Westar’s Topeka dispatch center. “This is a major ice storm. This is probably going to wind up being the largest event we’ve had on our system.”

Moore said 1,000 tree trimmers and 765 linemen from other states were assisting Westar crews.

Statewide, about 124,000 customers were still without power Wednesday afternoon. Kansas Emergency Management spokeswoman Sharon Watson said that number increased about 15,000 from Tuesday.

President Bush issued an emergency disaster declaration Wednesday in Kansas at the urging of Gov. Kathleen Sebelius and members of the state’s congressional delegation. The declaration authorizes the Federal Emergency Management Agency to provide financial assistance to help the state clean up from the storm.

“I’m happy to report that not only has the president signed the declaration, but our request for drinking water and generators has also been granted, and supplies are on their way,” Sebelius said in a news release. “This puts us in a better position with our response and recovery from these storms across the state.”

One of the hardest hit areas was Riley County, including the city of Manhattan, where about half the town was without power. However, power had been restored to Manhattan’s water wells.

Kansas State University’s Student Union ballroom was opened as a shelter for students, faculty and staff. Final exams missed Tuesday because of the storm were rescheduled for Friday.

The outage number includes 50,000 customers served by rural electric cooperatives, 1,500 served by Kansas Power and Light and 800 served by the Kansas City Board of Public Utilities.

Much of the increase in outages came from rural electric cooperatives. Shana Holsteen, a spokeswoman for Kansas Electric Cooperatives Inc., a statewide association, said ice and falling tree limbs had continued to down power lines.

Fort Riley experienced widespread power outages, leaving many families without heat. Shelters were set up at two gyms for families without electricity. Power was restored to about 55 percent of the post by Wednesday, with only essential personnel reporting to work.

The Kansas Department of Health and Environment issued an advisory for residents to boil water before using it for drinking or cooking. The advisories were issued for areas in Cherokee, Jefferson, Labette, Reno and Wabaunsee counties after water pressure was lost for a time. Cities affected include Chetopa and Maple Hill.

Kansans won’t see much relief from the weather in the coming days. Another storm system could bring snow to the state Friday and Saturday, with high temperatures remaining in the 30s.

Emergency management officials were relieved that the damage wasn’t worse.

“We have seen a tremendous impact on power lines throughout the state,” Watson said. “If we would have gotten more (ice) than that, it would have been quite a grave situation.”

The ice storm claimed the lives of four people on Kansas roadways, the highway patrol said. But those were Saturday and Sunday, before a second wave of the storm hit on Monday afternoon.