Several inches of snow have covered the northeast of the US, crippling Connecticut, Rhode Island, Pennsylvania, New Jersey and New York.
These areas house around 2.8 million Americans – more than 400,000 of whom are of Bangladeshi origin.
The snowstorm has disrupted road and railway links. Several thousand flights have been cancelled.
The storm, which came on Thursday, a day after temperatures had been a spring-like 10 to 16 degrees Celsius had wind gusts up to 50 miles per hour (80 kph).
It left roads and sidewalks dangerously slick in densely populated cities such as New York, Boston and Philadelphia, Reuters news agency said.
The authorities issued special warning due to the blizzard in the evening.
Nationwide, about 3,200 flights were cancelled, according to Flightaware.com.
All the public schools in New York City have been closed.
“This is an unusually fast, intense storm,” Reuters quoted New York Mayor Bill de Blasio as telling reporters. “It’s very tough conditions out there.”
Many government offices have also been closed along with schools in New Jersey, Long Island and Philadelphia.
The roads and highways have almost been empty.
In the Bangladeshi-inhabited areas of Jackson Heights, Jamaica, Ozone Park, Church-McDonald, Parkchester, Sterling Avenue, West Chester, ZNew Jersey and Patterson, almost all the commercial entities have been shut. The restaurants are open, but empty.
The National Weather Service has forecast that these areas may go under up to 12 inches of snow and Rhode Island and Long Island 17 inches.
