North Dakota ? Crews fought mud and water Friday as they tried to restore power after a fierce storm spread a wintry mix across the Dakotas, while authorities worked to remove snow-stranded vehicles that littered an interstate highway hours after their occupants were rescued.

Blizzard warnings subsided, but thousands of customers in rural areas remained without power after freezing rain and high winds.

The Nodak Rural Electric Cooperative said it was trying to restore power to about 4,500 rural customers. Nodak President George Berg said that some areas got about 5 inches of rain, and that the freezing rain and winds toppled power lines and poles along a 40-mile path in five counties.

“Our biggest obstacle is not the snow, but all the mud and water,” Berg said. One crew in northern Nelson County had to use a motorboat to reach a downed power pole submerged in water, he said.

North Dakota’s deer hunting season opened Friday, and Steele County Sheriff Wayne Beckman worried some hunters could mistake power crews for deer.