Thanksgiving weather: Hundreds of thousands of Americans on East Coast left without electricity

A Maine resident said his family plans to grill their turkey

Heavy snow has left hundreds of thousands of Americans without electricity as they try to celebrate Thanksgiving - one of the nation’s most important holidays.

Homes and businesses from West Virginia to Vermont, on the border with Canada, were faced with power outages. Central Maine Power tweeted that it was bringing in crews from Canada to help the storm recovery effort.

Meanwhile in New York City, crews from the Con Edison energy firm were “working to restore power in time for all customers to enjoy Thanksgiving dinners,” spokesman Philip O'Brien told NBC News.

Alex King, a university student from Seattle, told the broadcaster that his family were planning to grill, rather than roast, their Thanksgiving turkey, after six inches of snow cut off their electricity in South Bristol, Maine.

Yesterday, winter storms caused travel chaos for the millions of Americans heading home for the holiday, with over 700 flights cancelled, and 5,000 others delayed. And on the roads, drivers were faced with slush-covered roads, with caused at least 125 road accidents in Connecticut alone.

New York Governor Andrew M. Cuomo yesterday activated the state's Emergency Operations Center and had 1,800 plow operators standing by to clear snow between New York City and Albany, the state capital.

Luckily, skies cleared and snow melted in New York and New Jersey in time for the annual Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade in Manhattan.

Weather Channel meteorologist Kevin Roth said that while snow was likely in Maine and Boston, most of the travel chaos had ended.