The eastern United States began digging out on Saturday from a massive storm that dumped heavy snow from Georgia to Massachusetts, knocking out power for thousands of people and causing hundreds of car crashes, officials said as they warned of more cold weather ahead.

A woman walks through Central Park with a red umbrella during a snow storm in New York City, U.S. January 7, 2017.

The snowstorm also caused flight delays and cancellations across the country.

The snow began falling heavily on Friday in parts of Georgia, North and South Carolina and Virginia and lasted until mid-day on Saturday, meteorologist Andrew Orrison of the Weather Prediction Center said by phone.

Some of the heaviest snowfall, accumulating to about a foot (30 cm), was in southeast Virginia around Williamsburg and in northern North Carolina, Orrison said. Parts of northern Georgia had over six inches (15 cm) of snow, he said.

Georgia Governor Nathan Deal said in a statement that thousands of power outages were reported and city officials in the Atlanta area asked residents to check on elderly people who might lack electricity.

At least one warming center in Atlanta, where people could get out of the cold, was filled to capacity, the city said on its Twitter page.

Some interstate highways were impassable overnight going into Saturday and multiple traffic collisions had been reported, Deal's statement said.

The driver of a sport utility vehicle hit a patch of ice on Interstate 75 in Monroe County, Georgia, careened off the roadway, struck a tree and was killed, the county Sheriff's Office said in a statement.

North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper on social media said the state had more than 700 accidents - but no fatalities - and about 20,000 power outages. The snowstorm prompted Cooper, a Democrat, to postpone his inauguration ceremony planned for Saturday.

"This was actually, for the season, the most significant winter storm the Southeast has had," Orrison said.

In Connecticut, about 20 cars and a tanker truck were mangled in a pile-up crash in the snow on Interstate 91 in Middletown, State Police said on Twitter.

At least one vehicle could be seen wedged under the tanker, in video posted online by the police agency. It added that no serious injuries resulted from the pile-up.

More than a foot of snow fell in parts of New England, Orrison said. That region had also seen heavy snow last month.

The storm interfered with many people's travel plans, with tracking service FlightAware.com reporting 3,657 flight delays and 3,458 cancellations by Saturday evening for trips around the United States, into or out of the country.

The National Weather Service warned residents of the eastern United States to prepare for cold temperatures on Sunday.

In particular, areas of North Carolina and Virginia already hit with heavy snow could see temperatures fall to the single digits Fahrenheit (about minus 15 degrees Celsius), Orrison said.

Meanwhile, rainfall from a Pacific storm lashing parts of California was expected to intensify on Sunday and potentially cause flooding and mudslides, especially in areas stripped bare by wildfires, officials said.

U.S. storm brings floods to California, along with snow and ice

The upper Napa River north of San Francisco was expected to cause "extreme damage to all towns along the reach," the California emergency agency said in a statement.

A partially submerged home and vehicles are seen during a winter storm in Petaluma, California, January 8, 2017.

An agency spokesman there had been no reports of fatalities or serious damage from the bad weather.

Several California highways were closed from landslides or high water. In Washington state, high winds, ice and heavy snow shut roads and created hazardous driving conditions.

Iridium Communications said Elon Musk's SpaceX rocket company had delayed Monday's launch of a Falcon 9 rocket carrying 10 of its satellites from Vandenberg Air Force Base, north of Los Angeles. The new launch date was set for Saturday.

The storm is drawing its strength from the interaction between an "atmospheric river," a plume of water vapor flowing from the tropics toward the West Coast, and a low-pressure area near Oregon, the National Weather Service said.

After years of drought, the storm is the latest incident in a strong wet season for California that began in the autumn. Another front is expected on Tuesday.

In an encouraging sign, the U.S. Forest Service said the rain had restored moisture levels in Southern California vegetation to a seasonal normal for the first time in five years.

The eastern United States experienced cold temperatures on Sunday, the day after a massive storm dumped snow from Georgia to Massachusetts.

Source: Reuters