What 's worse than 7 feet of snow piled up in front of your house ? How about the flooding that comes once those 7 feet of snow melt ? That 's exactly what some Buffalonians will grapple with when temperatures Monday warm up to around 60 degrees . Swift-water rescue teams and helicopters are already on standby in western New York in case anyone gets caught in a deluge . New York Gov . Andrew Cuomo said residents should n't wait until the last minute to evacuate if they think their homes will get inundated . He advised such homeowners to clear their basements of valuables . The governor said dealing with flooding is worse than the snow . `` It 's not water , '' Cuomo said . `` It 's a toxic brew . It has sewage in it ; it has runoff in it . '' State officials have beefed up stockpiles of generators and pumps and prepared almost 180,000 sandbags . After last week 's nationwide bout with frigid weather , Buffalo temperatures could reach as 60 on Monday , according to the National Weather Service . Freezing temperatures are not expected again until Tuesday night . `` At least 3 feet of snow has melted so far , '' Dawn Buck of Depew , New York , told CNN 's iReport on Sunday afternoon . But Erie County spokesman Benjamin Swanekamp said so far , the snow has been melting at a `` relatively even pace . '' `` The pace of the melting and the lack of additional rain has kept it manageable , '' Swanekamp said late Sunday night . About 700,000 people are under a flood warning until Wednesday , CNN meteorologist Pedram Javaheri said . Officials have been moving pumps into neighborhoods and sandbags near creeks . So far , the county has n't received reports of major flooding . But Cuomo has asked residents to clean out storm drains in front of their houses `` so the water has some place to go . '' Collapsing roofs . There 's also the threat of more building collapses as all the rain saturates the snow on the tops of buildings , making the load even heavier . Several dozen roofs have already collapsed from just the weight of the snow , Erie County officials said . While most of the fallen buildings were unoccupied , Swanekamp said , a roof collapse at a dairy barn roof killed 25 cattle . Cuomo said structural engineers will examine schools and other government buildings that might be in danger of roof collapses . He said most state government offices will reopen Monday . Nasty winds too . The National Weather Service in Buffalo issued a high wind warning from Monday afternoon until early Tuesday morning . High wind warnings are issued when sustained winds of at least 40 miles per hour are expected for at least an hour , with gusts of at least 58 mph at any time . The winds could topple trees and power lines , officials said . And with ongoing snow melt , the saturated ground will make it easier for some trees to come down . 'City of Good Neighbors ' Anthony Marchioli of Buffalo was so bored that he rented a small snow tractor to clear driveways on his street , CNN affiliate WKBW reported . On the way back from the rental company , he saw his pregnant wife standing in the street outside their house . Her water had broken . So Marchioli put her on the tractor and pushed through whiteout snow to Mercy Hospital , WKBW said . Eleven hours later , the couple 's third daughter was born . Her name : Loxley Storm Marchioli . And despite the intimidating heaps of snow , strangers came to help any way they could . Erica Bartoe of Hamburg , New York , told CNN 's iReport from Hamburg , New York that people had come to her town from other areas to help shovel snow and drop off donations . `` Buffalo is called the City of Good Neighbors for a reason , '' she said . `` There were people everywhere helping out . ''
The Buffalo area braces for flooding and brutal winds that could knock down power lines . Be ready to evacuate , Gov . Andrew Cuomo tells people at risk for flooding . `` It 's not water , '' Cuomo says . `` It 's a toxic brew . It has sewage in it ; it has runoff in it . '' Strangers are coming to help clear some of the mammoth snowfall .