Monster eastern US snowstorm melts into sea
The storm affected around a quarter of the US population
The US north-east is emerging from a huge winter storm which dumped up to 2ft (60cm) of snow in the Washington area before melting into the sea.
One of the worst blizzards in decades had sprawled 500 miles (800km) over a dozen states, affecting about one in four Americans.
Federal government agencies in Washington will remain closed on Monday as the capital clears up.
The storm proved milder for New York which saw 1ft (30cm) of snow.
Virginia, Maryland, West Virginia, Kentucky and Delaware, along with Washington and Philadelphia, at some stage all declared emergencies.
Stranded train
Washington DC earlier saw the largest snowfall ever recorded in a single December day and southern New Jersey its highest single-storm snow in almost four years.
For those looking for a white Christmas, this certainly will stick around
Bruce Sullivan
US National Weather Service
Washington Mayor Adrian Fenty expressed confidence that most city streets would be cleared by Monday.
New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg said thousands of workers were out clearing streets on Sunday.
He remained upbeat, saying the snow fell too late on Saturday to affect Christmas trading severely.
"Hopefully, we'll have a little bit of a white Christmas," he said.
Some tourists were happy. Briton Kevin Sanders said: "We just came off the Statue of Liberty when it came down last night, and look this morning. It's amazing. It gives it the Christmas feel as well."
Others suffered more difficulties - about 150 people were stranded for five hours on a Long Island train.
Hundreds of flights were cancelled into New York airports but they are now trying to return to normal.
Airports in Washington, Baltimore and Boston were also still experiencing severe problems.
AdvertisementSnowstorm blankets US East Coast
The storm also brought wind gusts of up to 60mph (96km/h).
Hundreds of thousands of householders earlier lost power in West Virginia, Tennessee, Kentucky, Virginia and North Carolina.
The Greyhound bus firm cancelled services on nearly 300 routes across the eastern seaboard, while Amtrak trains experienced major delays.
HAVE YOUR SAY
The people who were driving small cars were slipping and sliding and crashing into parked cars
Steve, Arlington, Virginia
Send us your stories In Virginia, several hundred motorists were earlier stranded in their vehicles and had to be rescued by the National Guard. Some 500 people sought refuge in emergency shelters.
Three people died in Virginia. One was killed when a car hit a tree, a second died of exposure and a third was also apparently killed in a road traffic accident.
In Ohio, two people died in accidents on snow-covered roads hit by the same storm system.
The system originated over the Gulf of Mexico, unleashing flash floods in much of the US south-east.
The rain turned to snow as the storm tracked north-eastward into freezing temperatures.
