New Brunswick's premier said the Canadian Armed Forces have sent in a "recon team" to see how they can help the recovery effort after an ice storm ravaged parts of the province this week.

Brian Gallant told a news conference in Tracadie Saturday that he spoke to Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale about what support the federal government can provide to help New Brunswickers cope with Wednesday's ice storm.

NB Power says tens of thousands of residents in the eastern part of the province were still without power Saturday afternoon.

At its peak, more than 150,000 were off the grid, with seven communities declaring states of emergency.

Gallant said the utility hopes to restore power Saturday to 80 per cent of the Acadian Peninsula.

“We're going to do everything possible to get as close as possible to it. It is subject to weather,” said Gallant.

He said the utility predicts that power will be restored to 80 per cent of the Miramichi, and despite setbacks in southeastern New Brunswick, around 99 per cent of residents should have power by the end of Saturday.

Gallant said around 200 volunteers are going door-to-door in the parts of New Brunswick that are without power to check in on residents and remind them of best practices regarding the use of heating equipment.

He said two people have died and seven people are being treated for injuries suspected to be related to carbon monoxide poisoning.

RCMP spokesman Paul Greene says the Mounties responded to the deaths of a 62-year-old man at his home in Petite Riviere de l'ile on Lameque Island in the Acadian Peninsula on Thursday night and the death of a 74-year-old woman in her garage in Saint-Leolin, also a small community on the Acadian Peninsula, on Thursday afternoon.

Greene said the man's death was believed to be caused by carbon monoxide from a generator running in the home, while the death of the woman also appeared to be caused by carbon monoxide poisoning, though few details were available on Friday night.

Gallant said 46 warming centres are open across the province for residents affected by the outages. He expects a report detailing how the Armed Forces can help will be completed by the end of the day Saturday.

In the meantime, all sub stations and transmission lines have been fixed, and restoration target times are now available online.

With files from CTV Atlantic’s Cami Kepke.