A dog plays with a snowball during a snow storm in Times Square in the Manhattan borough of New York, January 23, 2016. [Photo/Agencies]

Millions of residents, business owners and workers began digging out from a massive blizzard on Sunday that brought Washington, New York and other northeastern US cities to a standstill.

The weather conditions left at least 19 people dead in several states.

The storm was the second-biggest in New York City, with 68 centimeters of snow recorded by midnight on Saturday, just short of the record of 68.3 cm set in 2006, the National Weather Service said.

Thirteen people were killed in weather-related car crashes in Arkansas, North Carolina, Kentucky, Ohio, Tennessee and Virginia on Saturday.

One person died in Maryland and three in New York City while shoveling snow. Two died of hypothermia in Virginia, officials said.

On the New Jersey shore — a region hard-hit in 2012 by Superstorm Sandy — the storm brought flooding.

After slamming into the Washington area, where snow piled up outside the White House, the storm unexpectedly strengthened as it moved north and reached the New York metropolitan area on Saturday, home to about 20 million people.

Winds gusting at more than 64 kilometers per hour left high snowdrifts that buried cars.

With the storm tapering off overnight, officials in New York planned to lift a travel ban at 7 am on Sunday — restoring access to roads throughout the city and on Long Island and New Jersey.