Major cities such as Washington DC — where President Obama hunkered down in the White House — Philadelphia and Boston shut down and New Jersey stopped all public transport.
In Passaic, to the north of the state, Sashalynn Rosa, 23, and her son Messiah died on Saturday night while her husband was digging them out of their Mazda.
In what police described as a “tragic accident”, he spent 20 minutes shovelling the snow and appeared not to have noticed they were breathing carbon monoxide until it was too late.
He knocked on the window and called emergency services after they failed to wake up. Neighbours gave CPR but the mother and the son died at the scene. The couple’s three-year-old daughter Saniyah, who was also in the car, was taken to hospital in a “very critical condition”.
Passaic mayor Alex Blanco said: ‘It’s heartbreaking, it’s something you can’t foresee. He was just cleaning the car. If you look at the [exhaust] it is very clogged. It only takes a few minutes.’
A similar tragedy unfolded in Muhlenberg, Pennsylvania, where David Perrotto, 56, apparently died of carbon monoxide poisoning after a passing snowplough buried his vehicle, blocking the exhaust pipe and stopping him from getting out.
At least six other people died of health issues while shovelling snow including US Capitol police officer Vernon Alston, 44, at his home in Delaware.
As officials assessed the damage of the storm, Baltimore mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake said her city had experienced a “historic snow event”, with a record 29.2 inches.
Meteorologists said that the 26.8 inches of snow that hit New York was the second highest ever snowfall during a blizzard since 1869.
With no cars on the roads, there was a carnival atmosphere in Manhattan, with people walking down the middle of major thoroughfares.
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