A brutal winter storm has dumped snow, sleet and freezing rain up the south-east seaboard of the United States, delivering snowy conditions some cities had not seen in decades.

A North Carolina beach town is advising against ocean swimming after two youths were mauled by at least one shark over the weekend.

Two young people holidaying in the beach town of Oak Island, North Carolina, were swimming in waist-deep water when they lost limbs in separate life-threatening shark attacks.