Blizzard pounds US

Meanwhile, the United States also suffered from extremely cold weather. A brutal winter storm smacked the coastal southeast with a rare blast of snow and ice on Wednesday, hitting parts of Florida, Georgia and South Carolina with their heaviest snowfall in nearly 30 years.

Forecasters warned that the same system could soon strengthen into a "bomb cyclone" as it rolls up the East Coast, bringing hurricane-force winds, coastal flooding and up to 30 centimeters of snow.

At least 17 deaths were blamed on dangerously cold temperatures that for days have gripped wide swathes of the US from Texas to New England.

Schools in the southeast called off classes just months after being shut down because of hurricane threats, and police urged drivers to stay off the roads in a region little accustomed to the kind of winter woes common to the northeast.

"This is the coldest I've been in probably 50 years," said Gorans, who lives in Fresno, California, and was visiting his wife's family in Maryland. "I mean, this is freezing cold. My feet hurt, my ears hurt."

Afp - Ap