Large parts of the Northeastern United States lay buried under several feet of snow yesterday by a blizzard that severely curbed road and air travel and cut power to thousands of customers.

A powerful "nor'easter" storm that earlier wrought havoc in the US Midwest and mid-Atlantic states battered coastal New England with strong wind gusts and dumped more than 0.7 metres of snow on some areas.

The storm's impact could be felt across the Atlantic as dozens of flights at London's Heathrow airport were canceled to and from New York, Boston, Philadelphia and Washington. In all, US carriers reported hundreds of flight cancellations.

Boston's Logan airport shut down as crews could not keep runways clear amid near-whiteout conditions. Major airports in Connecticut and Rhode Island were also shuttered yesterday.

The storm hit Rhode Island particularly hard, with snow falling on that state at a rate of eight to 10 centimetres an hour, one official said. Governor Donald Carcieri ordered most state and municipal government offices closed today and asked businesses to do the same so crews could dig out roads. "What makes this so bad is the wind," said Lieutenant Colonel Mike McNamara of the Rhode Island Emergency Management Agency. "The way the wind is drifting everything is making it hazardous to be out on the roads."

States of emergency were declared in both Rhode Island and Massachusetts, with National Guard troops helping to clear roads and evacuate citizens from coastal areas. At least 25,000 customers in southeast Massachusetts were without power.

New Yorkers began digging out from more than a foot of snow the storm dumped on the region on

Saturday and early yesterday. A total of 33 centimetres had fallen in Central Park, but 46 centimetres or more were recorded in the worst-hit areas of eastern Long Island, where some 10,000 residents lost power, and in New Jersey's northwestern suburbs.