East coast is prepared for a huge blizzard which is expected to dump near-record levels of snow on Washington and the Mid-Atlantic region.
More than 50 million people have been warned of a “potentially paralyzing storm” late on Friday, January 22, that will bring 24ins of snow within hours.
There are warnings the blizzard could cause power outages and will bring road and air travel to a halt.
A rush for supplies led to long queues and empty shelves at supermarkets.
The weather system has already proved to be deadly, with two drivers killed in North Carolina, one in Tennessee and a pedestrian dead in Maryland.
States of emergency has been declared in Maryland, North Carolina, Georgia, Pennsylvania, Virginia and the District of Columbia.
Washington DC’s transport system – the second busiest in the US – will close all weekend.
Garth Brooks has postponed two sold-out concerts in Baltimore due to the upcoming blizzard.
Schools across the region are closed on January 22 and airlines have issued waivers for travel, meaning passengers can rebook.
High winds could compound problems, with 30mph winds forecast for Manhattan on January 23, and even stronger gusts in Washington and Baltimore.
National Weather Service director Louis Uccellini said the system had “the potential of being an extremely dangerous storm that could affect over 50 million people”.
He added: “We are talking about a potentially paralyzing storm that is already setting up.”
The record snowfall for Washington is 28ins that fell during a two-day period in January 1922.
Boston, which bore the brunt of repeated snowstorms last year, is expected to escape relatively lightly this time, with just a few inches.
Snowfall predictions: 24ins – NE Virginia, 20ins – Washington DC, 12-18ins – Philadelphia, 14ins – Kentucky, 10ins – New York City and Long Island.
The unseasonable snowstorm, which brought up to 30 inches (76 cm) of snow in parts of the US East Coast over the weekend , has been blamed for as many as 19 deaths and millions of homes without power.
It was repoerted that power outages in two states exceeded damage wrought by Hurricane Irene.
Many schools are closed across the storm’s path, with children in the state of Connecticut warned to call off Halloween trick-or-treat plans.
The snowstorm fatalities, which include one death in Canada, were caused by traffic accidents, electrocutions and other causes as a result of the snowstorm.
Yesterday, about 750,000 households were still without power in Connecticut, where the storm damage was said to have surpassed that wreaked by Hurricane Irene in August
States of emergency were declared in New Jersey, Connecticut, Massachusetts and parts of New York.
Some states have warned it could be days or even a week before residents have power again. Crews have been brought in from as far away as Michigan and Canada.
Trees, branches and power lines still littered roads and rail lines throughout the region, making it difficult for many to get to work on Monday.
Connecticut officials warned residents to cancel their Halloween trick-or-treat plans.
“With so many wires down… the sidewalks will not be safe for pedestrians [Monday] night,” said Mark Boughton, mayor of the city of Danbury.
“We have 200 streets with wires down… [we] would hate to have children hurt.”
Yesterday, about 750,000 households were still without power in Connecticut, where the storm damage was said to have surpassed that wreaked by Hurricane Irene in August.
New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, whose own house lost power, also declared the damage worse than that from Hurricane Irene.
Among the deaths blamed on the storm were an 84-year-old Pennsylvania man killed by a tree that fell on his home, a person who died in a traffic accident in Connecticut and a 20-year-old man who was electrocuted in Massachusetts.
In New York City, a new record for October snowfall was set on Saturday when 1.3 inches fell in Central Park.
Only three other snowy October days in the US have been recorded in the park in 135 years of record-keeping.
Most of the Occupy Wall Street protesters in New York’s Zuccotti Park saw out the storm.
The storm brought chaos to flights schedules at New York airports, while Amtrak reported massive disruption to train services.
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