Thousands lose power for US Thanksgiving

A winter storm that wreaked travel chaos across the US northeast is winding down, but hundreds of thousands of people were left without power on the Thanksgiving holiday.

About 300,000 people suffered power outages in the wake of the storm, Accuweather.com reported.

Hard-hit areas included New Hampshire, where the public utility company said about 174,000 were affected as of noon on Thursday.

Central Maine Power said 74,000 customers were without electricity.

Other outages in Vermont had been restored.

Wednesday's storm came on one of the busiest travel days of the year, as millions took to the roads and skies to join loved ones for America's Thanksgiving holiday on Thursday.

More than 9000 flights were cancelled or delayed on Wednesday in the northeast as rain, snow and sleet fell in Boston, Philadelphia, New York and Washington.

However, the FlightAware.com website was showing no significant departure or arrival delays in the region as of noon Thursday.

The estimated average roundtrip distance travelled in the United States during Thanksgiving this year is around about 885km, according to the AAA.