WASHINGTON: Cars vanished from the snow-clogged US capital yesterday, as thousands of winter revellers strapped on skis, while others did battle in a fierce mass snowball street fight. In the city of power suits and stilettos, the newest fashion must-haves were snow shoes and thermal coats as a record-breaking blizzard dumped just under two feet of snow on parts of Washington.

Landmarks such as the White House, were blanketed in white, while the national mall which links Capitol Hill and Lincoln Memorial became a giant pedestrian playground.

At the hip Dupont Circle area, a snowball fight organised via Facebook gathered more than 1,000 people after 6,000 said they were planning to join.

"I was being paranoid staying at home," said a former ski instructor from Gottingen in Germany who works for the IMF.

She was out for a walk in her ski jacket and pants, a bobble hat and snowshoes in central Washington.

Most stores, coffee shops and restaurants around Washington stayed shut, something almost never seen.

Men armed with shovels instead of sniper rifles threw off snow from the roof of the White House and roads leading to it were being kept meticulously clear.

Residents in Washington and Mid-Atlantic states began digging out from piles of wet, heavy snow in below-freezing temperatures, while crews tried to restore power to thousands of homes and clear streets for work today.