The Buffalo region of New York State Saturday was bracing for massive flooding even as it dug out from a record 2-metre-plus snowfall.
According to dpa, the National Weather Service said that the snowpack in the heaviest-hit areas contained 10 to 15 centimetres of water.
Temperatures were expected to hit 10 degrees Celsius on Sunday and rise even more in the following days. Rain was expected to start falling on Saturday.
The American Red Cross urged people to head for higher ground if the current flood watch is boosted to a flood warning.
Western New York state and particularly Buffalo woke up Wednesday to an astonishing amount of snow dumped by a weather system that also brought unusual sub-freezing temperatures to much of the United States.
Local officials attributed 13 deaths to the storm, including some from cardiac arrest due to shoveling heavy snow, the online weather service AccuWeather reported.
Some people succumbed to freezing cold while stranded in their cars for 24 hours and more.