A historic winter storm has started lashing the northeast US, placing 59 million people under weather warnings and causing power outages and a travel ban in New York City, BBC reported. 

States of emergency have been declared in multiple US states including Massachusetts, Connecticut, Delaware, New Jersey and Rhode Island. Several have instituted restrictions or bans on travel due to the blizzard and thousands of flights have been cancelled.

Forecasters say much of the US northeast and the Canadian Maritimes will be impacted from Sunday evening to Monday, according to BBC.