Concord (US): An ice storm to compare with some of the Northeast s worst made a mess of the region , leaving 1.25 million homes and businesses in seven states without power as it forced schools to close and toppled ice-laden trees and power lines onto slippery roads.

Most of the outages were in New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Maine and New York, and it was expected to take several days to completely restore electricity. The storm yesterday wreaked havoc from Maine to Pennsylvania, leaving a sparkling, ice-covered landscape that was too destructive for many to find beautiful.

At least one death was related to the storm: New Hampshire officials said a 49-year-old man who lived in a camper died of carbon monoxide poisoning after turning on his generator when his power went out Thursday night.

For New Hampshire, the power outages dwarfed those during the infamous Ice Storm of 1998,when some residents spent more than a week in the dark.

Utilities reported more than 400,000 homes and businesses without power in New Hampshire, including 320,000 served by the state's largest utility, Public Service Company of New Hampshire. By contrast, the 1998 storm left 55,000 Public Service customers without power.

New Hampshire Governor John Lynch and Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick declared states of emergency last morning and called up members of the National Guard to help cleaning up debris and clearing access to downed power lines.

Public Service officials said they do not know yet how long it will take to restore all power, but suggested repairs for at least some homes and businesses will go into next week.