Winter storm pummels US north-east after rolling through south

New England police report hundreds of traffic crashes after 350,000 lose power from Texas to Ohio

North-east residents were urged to stay off the roads with temperatures beginning to drop on Friday evening as a major winter storm turned already slippery roads and sidewalks into ice-covered hazards.

The storm spread misery from the deep south, where tree limbs snapped and a tornado claimed a life, to the nation's north-eastern tip.