A blizzard that has paralysed much of the US East Coast has intensified, bringing Washington to a standstill and forcing the closure of roads, bridges and tunnels into New York until Sunday morning.

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In all, there were at least 19 deaths in several states related to the storm.

It ranked No.2 in terms of snowfall accumulation in New York City history, with 68cm by midnight, just short of the record set in 2006, the National Weather Service said. It was among Washington's biggest ever snowstorms too.

Thirteen people were killed in weather-related car crashes in Arkansas, North Carolina, Kentucky, Ohio, Tennessee and Virginia. One person died in Maryland and three in New York City while shovelling snow. Two died of hypothermia in Virginia, officials said.

On the New Jersey Shore, a region hard hit in 2012 by Superstorm Sandy, the storm drove high tides causing flooding in several towns.

After dumping about 60cm of snow on the Washington area overnight, the storm unexpectedly gathered strength as it spun northward and headed into the New York metropolitan area, home to about 20 million people.

With the storm persisting through the night, snow accumulations of between 61 to 76cm were expected in New York City, northern New Jersey and western Long Island, with winds gusting up to 64km/h, the NWS said. Visibility was expected to be 400 metres or less.

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo declared a state of emergency, as have 10 other state governors. He also imposed a ban on all travel on New York City area roads and on Long Island, except for emergency vehicles, until 7am Sunday, when all bridges and tunnels into the city from New Jersey would also be reopened.

Subways running above ground and trains operated by the Long Island Rail Road and Metro-North halted service at 4pm because snow falling at a rate of 8cm per hour proved too much for ploughs on roads and railways, Cuomo said.

The impact of the travel ban on New York's financial services industry was seen as minimal over the weekend. On Broadway, however, the impact was immediate. Theatres cancelled Saturday matinee and evening performances at the urging of the mayor.

An otherworldly quiet descended on the usually bustling city of 8.5 million.

While authorities in New York and New Jersey halted public transportation, the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority took the rare step of suspending operations through Sunday in the capital.

More than 5100 flights were cancelled on Saturday and more than 3300 more on Sunday, said FlightAware.com, the aviation data and tracking website.

United Airlines said on Saturday that it would not operate at Washington-area airports on Saturday and Sunday, and would gradually resume service on Monday.

The brunt of the blizzard reached the New York City area after battering Washington, where snow had piled up outside the White House.

The snow also engulfed the Mid-Atlantic cities of Baltimore and Philadelphia while about 150,000 customers in North Carolina and 90,000 homes in New Jersey lost electricity in the storm on Saturday.

Tides higher than those caused by Superstorm Sandy three years ago pushed water onto roads along the Jersey Shore and Delaware coast.
Some evacuations were reported along the New Jersey Shore, where thousands of residents had to abandon their homes during the devastating 2012 storm.

The high tides were set to return on Sunday morning.