ALBANY - About 10,000 utility customers in the Albany area remained without power one of the most sweltering days of the summer after a series of powerful thunderstorms rumbled across the region.

The storms Monday night dumped more than two inches of rain on areas around Albany, Schenectady and Troy, causing streets to flood and stranding some motorists. Wind gusts of up to 60 miles an hour uprooted large trees and brought down power lines.

Nearly 50,000 customers lost power during the storms, and outages lingered late Tuesday afternoon around the three cities.

“We're hoping power will be restored throughout Tuesday, and we hope to pick up the majority of customers by the end of the day,” said Patrick Stella, a spokesman for National Grid.

Several area schools and colleges canceled summer classes due to the power outages and the suburbs of Coeymans and Bethlehem set up cooling stations for residents.

“National Grid tells me we still have 6,000 homes without power, which accounts for probably 75 percent of homes in the town,” Bethlehem Town Supervisor Jack Cunningham said Tuesday afternoon.

In Troy, Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno and the Price Chopper grocery chain planned to distribute thousands of bags of ice and bottles of water Tuesday at several locations. The Rensselaer County city also opened all public pools free of charge to Troy residents and those living close by.

The New York Independent System Operator, which operates the state's electric transmission system, said a peak load of 31,741 megawatts had been used by Tuesday evening - a record for the year - though short of the all-time record-breaking peak of 33,939 megawatts on Aug. 2, 2006.

NYISO spokesman Ken Clapp said they were able to meet the demand.

Clapp said the thunderstorms across upstate New York on Monday night cooled things down a bit, mitigating energy demand.