Washington, Jan 8 (IANS): Five people ere killed and thousands were rendered without electricity supply as a powerful winter storm continued to sweep across the US, a media report said.

In the West, parts of northern California and Nevada were filling sandbags as an "atmospheric river" threatened to dump very heavy rains and cause flooding on Sunday. More than half of California was under flash flood watches, state officials said on Saturday.

Vehicle crashes in Georgia and Kentucky on Saturday killed two people, a man died in a Friday crash with a snow plow and a third person died in a Kentucky crash on Thursday, officials said. A tree felled by high winds in Oregon came down on an eight-year-old on Tuesday, killing her, NBC News reported.

In Connecticut, a stretch of a major highway was closed for hours on Saturday after a 21-car pileup and other crashes, state police said. No serious injuries were reported.

"If I tell you anything, it would be stay home," North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper said on Saturday. "Do not go out and drive on the roads unless you absolutely have to."

The Federal Aviation Administration ordered a temporary ground stop at Philadelphia's airport due to ice and snow, and major delays were reported at New York City-area airports.

A little more than 5 inches of snow was recorded at New York's John F. Kennedy Airport and LaGuardia saw just over 4 inches of snow by Saturday evening, the National Weather Service said.

Across the state more than 9,000 customers were without power supply as of Saturday afternoon, down from 16,000, the state Department of Public Safety said.