US snowstorm
US snowstormReuters

At least 19 people were reportedly declared dead in a massive blizzard in the East Coast of the United States. Life has come to a standstill in 11 states where "snow emergency" was declared on Saturday, a day after Winter Storm Jonas hit parts of the US.

Of the 19 people, 13 were killed in car crashes due to snowstorm in Arkansas, North Carolina, Kentucky, Ohio, Tennessee and Virginia. Of the rest, one died in Maryland, three died while shovelling snow in New York City and two died of hypothermia in Virginia, officials were quoted as saying by Reuters.

Snow emergency has been declared in Georgia, Tennessee, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Kentucky, North Carolina, New Jersey, New York, Delaware, Virginia, West Virginia and Washington DC.

Travel ban has been imposed in New York City as Jonas is believed to be the worst snowstorm in the US. Governor Andrew Cuomo on Saturday evening announced a ban on travel, except for emergency services, on New York City area roads and on Long Island.

All the subways that run above ground and trains operated by the Long Island Rail Road and Metro-North have been stopped since 4 pm (local time) as the area was receiving snowfall at the rate of 7.62 cm per hour, Cuomo said.

Public transportation in New Jersey has also been halted, and all bridges and tunnels leading to New York have been closed until Sunday morning, Mayor Bill de Blasio said.

The Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority closed operations in the capital on Sunday.

"The forecasts suggest that the snow will wrap up late tonight or in the very early hours of the morning... But it doesn't make it any less dangerous. We expect continued high winds throughout the area which will continue to make the conditions and visibility very poor," Washington Mayor Muriel Bowser said.

The massive snowstorm prompted officials to cancel as many as 5,100 flights on Saturday and 2,800 more on Sunday, according to Reuters. Meanwhile, United Airlines will suspend all operations at Washington-area airports until Monday, but start "very limited operations" at its Newark, New Jersey and other New York area airports on Sunday afternoon.