5 dead in massive snow in W. New York State

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At least five people have died due to the blizzard which has blanketed parts of western New York State, officials said Wednesday.

According to Erie County authorities, a 46-year-old man has been found dead on Wednesday in his vehicle, which was buried in snow in Alden, 24 miles east of Buffalo.

Four people died Tuesday, three from heart attacks and one from being pinned beneath a car he was trying to free from the snow. Two of the heart attack victims were believed to be stricken while shoveling snow, said the county officials.

About 50 percent of the U.S. had snow on the ground Tuesday, according to the National Weather Service, while Buffalo of New York, one of the hardest-hit areas, is buried under 5 feet of snow, and could top 6 feet by later Wednesday.

Buffalo Mayor Byron Brown said Wednesday it's a "long way to go" before efforts to clear Buffalo's roadways could be finished after the snowstorm.

"It is going to be a slow go," the mayor told reporters. " Historic amounts of snow have fallen. There is no place to put that snow."

Thankfully, New York State Electric and Gas Corp. reported relatively few power outages in and near Buffalo, where only about 450 customers didn't have electricity on Wednesday morning.

Tuesday witnessed the coldest November morning in the United States since 1976, with an overnight low of 19.4 degrees Fahrenheit, or -7 degrees Celsius, according to meteorologist Ryan Maue of WeatherBELL Analytics.

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