CHARLOTTE -- While making preparations to get power restored as quickly as possible after Hurricane Matthew, Duke Energy officials admitted the storm was bigger than they were expecting and are doubling the resources to get power restored as quickly as possible.

The company estimated roughly 1.2 million customers were affected by Hurricane Matthew. In the past 48 hours, Duke Energy has restored about 825,000 outages.

With almost 7,000 crews making repairs, the company has called for additional assistance and that number could come close to doubling in the next day or so. Help has come from as far away as Canada.

According to Duke, more than 800 broken poles and miles of downed lines -- and still counting., more than 100 substations damaged (the main electrical locations where electricity is received from power plants and then distributed to large portions of communities were down at the height of the storm; crews restored 64, but more than 50 remain out. Officials say repairs are being hampered by downed trees, flooded or damaged roads In some Duke Energy service areas, the electrical system will need to be rebuilt.

"I understand what folks are feeling," said Bobby Simpson, who is overseeing Duke Energy's restoration efforts. "Normally our crews are battling the elements as they're trying to replace poles and transformers and restring circuits. Today the sun was shining as they climbed into their trucks. But they only had to drive a mile or two down the road to be back in the middle of an environmental war zone."

As for the state’s electric cooperatives, remaining outages are concentrated in southeastern and coastal counties. Reinforcements of 68 crews, made up of close to 270 workers, from western N.C. cooperatives and surrounding states are working alongside local crews to get the power back on faster. Cooperative crews are following a plan to repair local systems as quickly and safely as possible, despite limited access due to flooding, debris and fallen trees.