A Saturday brunch turned into a snowy trek home through the streets of New York City for a New Zealander caught up in Storm Jonas.

"Snowzilla" as it's being dubbed, has brought the Big Apple to a standstill as the east coast of the United States is battered by snow and blizzards.

Kiwi Henry Watt arrived in New York a few days ago, and is receiving anything but a warm welcome.

He said he caught the train from his Brooklyn apartment to Manhattan's Soho district for brunch with friends, but had to make his way home on foot through deserted streets.

"The trains were closed because they needed to do maintenance on the Brooklyn line, because it is above ground and the snow was just killing it. So, I basically had to walk...It took me two hours in the snow and the wind."

The blizzard has paralysed much of the eastern United States and it is intensifying, bringing Washington to a standstill and forcing the closure of roads, bridges and tunnels into New York.

At least 13 people have been killed in weather-related car crashes in Arkansas, North Carolina, Kentucky, Ohio, Tennessee and Virginia.

One person also died in Maryland and three in New York while shovelling snow.

All travel on New York City area roads has been banned, except for emergency vehicles.