BUFFALO, N.Y. — A snowfall that brought huge snowdrifts and closed roads around Buffalo was finally expected to stop, but residents still couldn’t breathe easy, as the looming threat of rain and higher temperatures through the weekend and into the coming week raised the possibility of floods and the specter of roofs collapsing under the heavy loads.

Roofs already were beginning to creak and collapse Thursday as another storm brought the Buffalo area’s three-day snowfall total to an epic 7 feet or more. Little or no snow was expected on Friday, and the forecast called for a chance of rain on Saturday and more on Monday along with temperatures approaching 60 degrees.

Homeowners and store employees around the region climbed onto roofs Thursday to shovel off the snow and reduce the danger.

“It’s getting heavier,” said Cheektowaga resident Thomas Mudd Jr., who with his wife spent several hours shoveling 4 to 5 feet off their roof. “It’s supposed to warm up and we’re supposed to get rain on the weekend, which will make it even heavier.

So I didn’t want my roof collapsing.”

The storms were blamed for at least 10 deaths in western New York, mostly from heart attacks and exposure.