A powerful "bomb cyclone" storm is lashing the US northeast, bringing snow, flooding and tidal surges all along the coast.
More than 2,100 flights have been cancelled by airlines, with New York, Boston and Washington DC hardest hit
Many areas were buffeted by wind gusts exceeding 50 mph, with possible hurricane-strength winds of 80 to 90 mph on Cape Cod. Also, heavy snow fell in Ohio and upstate New York as the storm spun eastward. Boston south to Rhode Island was forecast to get 2 to 5 inches of snow from the late-winter storm.
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Powerful winds forced President Donald Trump to fly out of Dulles International Airport instead of Joint Base Andrews in Maryland, where Air Force One is housed. Mr Trump flew to Charlotte, North Carolina, to attend the funeral of the Reverend Billy Graham.
Flooding has already been seen in Boston streets, including areas around the Long Wharf and the rapidly developing Seaport District, flooded in a winter storm.
The National Weather Service has coastal flood watches and warnings in place from southern Maine through coastal Virginia, including New York's eastern suburbs, and was also tracking a snowstorm heading east from the Ohio Valley that could drop significant amounts of snow in northern New York State. It forecast storm surges of up to 4 feet (1.2 metres) for eastern Massachusetts.
More than 700,000 homes and businesses were without power across the region, with the largest number of outages in New York, utilities said.
Federal offices closed on Friday in Washington, while dozens of schools throughout the region cancelled classes.
Southern California was also facing weather dangers, with risks of rain-driven mudslides prompting mandatory evacuations ordered for some 30,000 people living near fire-scarred hills around the Santa Barbara coast.
Reuters and Associated Press contributed to this report
