Washington: The American capital braced for a massive winter storm that knocked down power in nearly half a million homes and business in Southeast America before moving north to wallop the Washington region.
More than 97 million Americans in more than 20 states, including Louisiana and South Carolina, governed by Indian-American governors, Bobby Jindal and Nikki Haley respectively are in the path of the storm being blamed for at least 11 deaths.
President Barack Obama declared an emergency for all counties in South Carolina at the request of Haley as some forecasters predicted "potentially catastrophic" conditions in parts of Georgia and the Carolinas.
Obama issued a similar declaration for 91 counties in Georgia Tuesday. The declaration authorises the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to support the states in their efforts to respond to the storm.
According to the National Weather Service, dangerous ice and snow is expected to intensify as the storm moves up the Eastern Seaboard, affecting locations across the mid-Atlantic and Northeast.
New York, Philadelphia and Washington are expected to get 6 to 12 inches of snow. But suburbs just to the west of those cities could get more than a foot with ice on top of that.
