Intense winter storm paralyzes US East Coast; 15 dead

The death toll from the massive snowstorm pummeling the US East Coast has reached at least 15, according to tallies given by officials.

New York Mayor Bill de Blasio announced on Saturday that three people died shoveling snow, while officials in North Carolina said six people died in road accidents. Virginia and Kentucky each reported two fatalities, and one person died in both Maryland and Arkansas.

"It's a reminder to everyone, do not overexert, particularly folks having any kind of health challenges," De Blasio told CNN.

The snow, which began spreading across more of the mid-Atlantic region on Friday evening, cut power for thousands of people.

The snowstorm, dubbed ‘Snowzilla’, cancelled about 5,100 flights on Saturday and 2,800 more on Sunday, said FlightAware.com, the aviation data and tracking website.

With the storm persisting through the night, accumulations of between 24 and 28 inches (60 to 71 cm) of snow are expected in New York City, northern New Jersey and western Long Island, the US National Weather Service said.

United Airlines said on Saturday that it would not operate at Washington-area airports Saturday and Sunday, and would gradually resume service on Monday. The airline plans to start "very limited operations" on Sunday afternoon at its Newark, New Jersey, hub and other New York area airports.

The snowfall will continue into Sunday and could cause over $1 billion in damage, paralyzing the Eastern third of the US, weather service director Louis Uccellini said.

Reports said public transportation in Philadelphia, Baltimore and Washington, D.C., was also shut down as local officials called on residents to hunker down and stay off the streets for a second day.

Virginia State Police reported 989 car crashes statewide by late Friday and had assisted nearly 800 disabled vehicles, said Ken Schrad, spokesman for the Virginia State Police Joint Information Center.

“This event has all the makings of a multibillion-dollar economic cost,” said meteorologist Steven Bowen of Aon Benfield, adding that, "we're potentially looking at one of the costlier winter storm events in recent memory.”                    

The so-called Blizzard of 1996, which had a similar size and scope, had a $4.6 billion economic cost (in 2016 dollars), Bowen said. “No two events are identical, but this provides some context as to how costly these storms can be.”                           

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