Emergency teams are working to fix downed power lines

Mr Bush toured a co-ordinating centre in Richmond, Virginia and held a video conference with governors from states affected by the storm.

"If you ned help, let us know," he told them.

By Monday, four days after Isabel struck, about 1.2m homes were still without power in Virginia, Maryland and the District of Columbia.

Long road to recovery

At least 28 deaths have been blamed on the storm - mostly from traffic-related accidents.

It will be months before we get back to normal Renee Cahoon, commissioner for Dare County Washington weathers storm Hurricane: Your experiences

Hurricane Isabel, which was briefly listed as a rare maximum Category Five hurricane, made landfall in North Carolina on Thursday, with winds in excess of 160 kph (100 mph).

The storm then charged north-west through Virginia and Maryland, and eventually petered out over Canada.

The US Department of Homeland Security is co-ordinating the government's response to the disaster, sending relief supplies to the worst-hit areas.

Officials in North Carolina's coastal Outer Banks, where dunes were flattened and houses smashed, said the region will not properly recover until next summer.

"All the towns along the coast have lost houses or hotels... It will be months before we get back to normal," said Renee Cahoon, commissioner for Dare County.