@ Shirko: are you under all that snow ?
A huge snow storm is blanketing the densely populated US North-east, after wreaking havoc with ice in the South.
Across the typically mild South, about 750,000 homes and businesses lack power, and more than 6,500 flights have been cancelled.
The weather system has affected people in about 22 states from Texas to Maine and caused at least 18 deaths.
The storm dumped up to 15in (30cm) of snow in the Washington DC region and 8in around New York City overnight.
Snow-covered streets were deserted during the morning commute in the nation's capital, where the federal government shut down its offices.
As much as 10-20 inches of snow in total could fall from north-eastern Pennsylvania to New England on Thursday, said the National Weather Service.
More than 6,500 flights were cancelled by Thursday morning, according to airline-tracking website FlightAware.com.
While temperatures at the Winter Games in Sochi, Russia, rose to 17C (63F), the US was shivering in bitter cold once again.
Winter celebration cancelled
Ironically, a celebration of winter tourism in the village of Lake Placid, New York state, was cancelled because of the storm.
Described by the National Weather Service as an event of "historical proportions", the storm leaves in its southern wake a wreckage of snapped tree branches and power lines coated in as much as an inch of ice, motorways turned to car parks, road accidents and residents shivering in darkened homes.
Forecasters said it was one of the worst storms to strike Atlanta, the largest city in the South, since 1973.
President Barack Obama declared a disaster in the state of South Carolina and all northern counties in Georgia, opening the way for federal aid.
Firefighter's fatal fall
On Wednesday evening, the Federal Emergency Management Agency said it was moving supplies, including generators, meals, water, blankets and cots to an emergency centre in Atlanta.
Full Article Photo & Video:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-26165335
