Travel chaos has returned to the north-east of the United States after a huge winter storm moved up from the south of the country.

The mammoth storm has affected people in over 22 states - from Texas to Maine - and caused at least 12 deaths so far.

Across the typically mild south of the United States, more than half a million homes and businesses lack power, and thousands of flights have been cancelled.

In the more crowded north, a band stretching from North-eastern Pennsylvania through New York State’s Hudson Valley and into New

England could see ten-20in of snow on Thursday, the National Weather Service warned.

Airlines grounded more than 3,300 flights on Wednesday and have already cancelled at least 3,700 flights for Thursday.

This includes more than half of the flights between New York and Washington, according to flight-tracking website FlightAware.com.

Forecasters said it was one of the worst storms to strike Atlanta, the largest city in the South, since the 1970s.

President Barack Obama offered US federal government aid, declaring a disaster in the state of South Carolina and all northern counties in Georgia.