New York snowstorm: Tweets from Buffalo show sheer volume of snowfall in the city

One photo shows a sealed off door being used as a beer cooler

A man with a shovel looks at a tall snowbank in Buffalo, New York, (REUTERS/Aaron Ingrao )

The beleaguered residents of Buffalo, where a year’s worth of snow has fallen in three days, have posted jaw-dropping images on Twitter to document how their city has changed.

Their posts include cars enclosed in snow, and doorways totally blocked off, after close to 3 feet (0.9 meters) of snow added to already-deep coverage on Thursday afternoon.

This week, at least 13 people have died in western New York, mostly from exposure and heart attacks, including several people who were shovelling snow. The latest was a 50-year-old man who was found in his car buried in snow on Friday morning, police said. The cause of death wasn't immediately known.

While little or no snow was expected on Friday, residents are now awaiting rain and temperatures as high as 16 C (60 F) through the weekend which are likely to cause flooding, and more roofs collapsing under heavy loads.

Around the region, homeowners and store employees climbed onto roofs to shovel off the snow and reduce the danger.

On Thursday, over 50 people were evacuated from several mobile home parks because of buckling roofs were buckling. According to local media, about 180 residents of care home were evacuated after staff members noticed the ceiling bulging under the weight of the snow.

Overnight, the sheer volume of snow caused 30 roofs to collapse, mostly on farms and flat-roof buildings, officials said on Friday.

Governor Andrew Cuomo has warned drivers to stay off slippery, car-clogged roads in while crews tried to dig out. The situation is so grave that National Guardsmen drove nurses to work their hospital shifts over the past few days.

Additional reporting by AP