The New York National Guard was dispatched Friday to hard-hit Clarkstown in an effort to help restore power to thousands there.

Clarkstown Supervisor George Hoehmann says more than 70 roads are either partially or completely closed due to downed trees and/or power lines – causing outages to thousands of customers.

Only crews from Orange and Rockland Utilities can touch and clear downed power lines, but Clarkstown officials say they have a dedicated line crew to work with the guardsmen.

Annette Martins, of West Nyack, called the appearance of the National Guard “one of the happiest sights I’ve seen in days.”

"This is what was done during Hurricane Sandy, and that's the level of damage in parts of our town here,” she said.

Cleanup is expected to take days with power restorations complete by midnight on Sunday, according to officials.