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Snowstorm causes fatal crashes in US East Coast

This image provided by the Connecticut State Police shows the scene of a crash involving as many as 20 vehicles on Interstate 91 in Middletown, Conn., on Saturday, Jan. 7, 2017.

A severe snowstorm has swept through the East Coast, causing fatal crashes and power outages and threatening blizzard-like conditions for other parts of the US.

Roads were coated with ice after snow and sleet pounded areas from Mississippi to New England on Saturday, with forecasters saying worse conditions were yet to affect parts of Virginia and the Northeast.

According to the National Weather Service, Boston and the Massachusetts coast could receive one foot and two feet of snow respectively by Sunday morning, while New York and Philadelphia were down for less heavy snow.

Daniel Mitchell operates a snowblower along the sidewalk on Norfolk Ave next to Randolph College on Lynchburg, Virginia, January 7, 2017. (Photo via AP)

North Carolina and southeastern Virginia were affected by blizzard conditions on Saturday. The storm was also responsible for a 20-vehicle pileup on a Connecticut highway.

"If I tell you anything it would be stay home," North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper said. "Do not go out and drive on the roads unless you absolutely have to."

The storm dropped 8 inches or more of snow in Burlington and Roxboro in central North Carolina with official figures showing snowfall totals reached up to 10 inches in at least seven North Carolina cities.

More than 250 crashes were reported in North Carolina alone. In Virginia, 325 crashes were responded to by police and 322 disabled vehicles were reported across the state between midnight and noon on Saturday.

In Tennessee, officers responded to hundreds of crashes starting Friday. In Mississippi, snow has caused some parts of the state to become virtual parking lots as motorists were stuck in traffic. In Atlanta, hundreds of flights were canceled.

Jets are deiced at Charlotte Douglas International Airport early Saturday, January 7, 2017. (Photo via AP)

According to police, the bad weather was responsible for at least two deaths in Kentucky and Georgia.

In Kentucky, a man was killed after his pickup truck skidded off a snow-slicked road and a 20-year-old student was killed in Georgia in a crash.

Police were also investigating motorist deaths in North Carolina and Maryland to determine if they were weather-related.


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