Some 330,000 still without power in N.Y., New England

MANCHESTER, New Hampshire (Reuters) - More than 330,000 homes and businesses in the U.S. Northeast remained without power on Monday, four days after a fierce snow and ice storm left more than 1.3 million in the dark.

In worst-hit New Hampshire, about 260 National Guard soldiers helped to clear debris, while many residents remained in hotels and emergency shelters with nearly 250 state and town roads still blocked by trees and fallen power lines.

"They are working on getting the power back but it is labor-intensive work," said Jim Van Dongen, spokesman for the New Hampshire Bureau of Emergency Management.

National Grid Plc, which owns gas and power networks in the New York and New England region, said it hoped to restore power to 150,000 customers in Massachusetts and New York by mid-week. Warmer temperatures on Monday melted the ice across much of New England, helping utility workers.

But about 163,000 homes and businesses were still in the dark in New Hampshire, down from an unprecedented 400,000 on Friday covering half the rural state, officials said.

"It's not fun," said Allison Bernier, whose home in Milford, New Hampshire, has been without power since 10:30 p.m. on Thursday. "It makes you grateful for what you have."

Like many who lost power, Bernier has relied on a gas-powered generator for heat and electricity. Her brother Chris waited in line for seven hours at a store on Saturday to buy it. "The generator saved our life," she said.

Twenty-six people in New Hampshire were hospitalized for carbon monoxide poisoning in separate incidents ranging from trying to heat homes with generators to using outdoor charcoal-fired grills indoors, Van Dongen said.

At least two deaths were reported. The body of a public works supervisor in Marlborough, Massachusetts, was found in a reservoir on Saturday after he went out to check on fallen power lines. And a 49-year-old man died in New Hampshire from carbon monoxide poisoning on Friday.

In Maine, which declared a state of emergency along with New Hampshire and Massachusetts, about 40,000 customers were still without power on Monday, down from a peak of 220,000, Iberdrola SA's Central Main Power Co said.

(Additional reporting by Scott DiSavino in New York and Jason Szep in Boston)

(Editing by Jason Szep)