Power in U.S. Southeast returning after storm

HOUSTON, March 2 (Reuters) - Electric utilities restored power to hundreds of thousands of homes and businesses on Monday from Georgia to Maryland after a late-winter snowstorm pummeled the region overnight, local power companies said.

More than 200,000 customers remained without power Monday evening in the Southeast, down from more than 530,000 earlier in the day.

In the hard-hit Carolinas, Duke Energy Corp (DUK.N) said more than 136,000 customers remained without power late Monday, down from a peak of 185,000 earlier. Duke warned that some customers may not receive service until late Wednesday.

Duke said more than 4,400 workers were assisting in the restoration effort.

In Virginia, Dominion Resources Inc (D.N) cut its outage total to 51,700 by late Monday afternoon, from 200,000 customers earlier.

About 21,000 customers in Georgia remained in the dark Monday evening.

Meanwhile, Constellation Energy's (CEG.N) Baltimore Gas & Electric unit and other utilities were able to restore power to most affected customers on Monday.

The heaviest snow, exceeding nine inches, fell along the Mid-Atlantic coast and through parts of New England, said AccuWeather.com.

Snow is forecast to continue to fall from northern New England into Canada on Monday night, but no major outages were seen.

After the storm, AccuWeather forecast gusty winds would continue to blow in cold air for the next couple of days in the Northeast. (Reporting by Eileen O'Grady)