The death toll in three days of heavy snowstorms in parts of New York has now reached 13, mostly from heart attacks and exposure and most of them elderly. More than a dozen buildings and carports have collapsed due to thick snow - sometimes as deep as five feet - that have accumulated on the roofs.

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And while weather forecasters say the worst of the snowstorms may be over in the Buffalo area, residents now face the threat of severe flooding, as the snow melts with the increasing temperature, and heavy rains are expected in the area in the coming days.

Some of the major roads in New York state started reopening Friday, but authorities are warning residents not to drive unless absolutely necessary. Gov. Andrew Cuomo said rains may start Saturday, and temperatures may warm up to 60 degrees by Monday, bringing further misery and danger.

"Warming will bring melting. Melting will bring water. Water will bring floods," the governor said Friday morning. "More flooding than we have ever seen in a long, long time."

Gov. Cuomo ordered some of the local driving bans lifted largely so that trucks could deliver food to stores and road crews could remove abandoned vehicles.

Erie County officials are warning residents that the rain may worsen the situation, as heavy snow on roofs could soak up more water before it melts.

With the rain and melting, the risk of 5 to 6 feet of flooding could occur in some areas until Tuesday.

CNN reports that some residents have been shovelling heavy snow off their roof for hours.

"It's supposed to warm up and we're supposed to get rain on the weekend, which will make it (the snow) even heavier," said Thomas Mudd Jr. in Cheektowaga when interviewed by CNN. "I didn't want my roof collapsing."

Among the dead were two elderly residents or a nursing home that was evacuated as concerns grew of a roof collapse. About 180 residents of an assisted-living facility in Cheektowaga were evacuated after staff noticed the ceiling had begun to sag under heavy snow.

New York National Guard members were driving nurses to their hospital shifts to ensure emergency medical services are functioning, and state troopers were seen rescuing residents trapped in their homes.

The next few days could see heavy equipment from across the state doing a massive cleanup before the floods come. New York officials have prepared 463 plows, 129 loaders and 40 dump trucks for the cleanup effort.

TagsBuffalo, Gov. Andrew Cuomo