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KEOKUK, IOWA (AP) -- UPDATED: February 2 at 3:27 p.m.

The claims of a snow shoveling related fatality in Keokuk are false.

The AP reported that Mayor Tom Marion had said a man had died of a heart attack while shoveling snow.

We have spoken with Mayor Marion and he has confirmed that those reports are false.

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The mayor of Keokuk says a man has died while shoveling snow in the southeast Iowa town, which is buried under more than 17 inches of snow.

Mayor Tom Marion says the man apparently suffered a heart attack while shoveling on Wednesday, Feb. 2.

Marion says the snowfall is a record for his city, which last saw this much snow in 1978. He says during that storm, the city used Iowa National Guard troops to help dig it out.

This year, all of Keokuk's troops are in Afghanistan.

Marion says he's considering declaring a citywide disaster, and then asking Gov. Terry Branstad for help.

(Copyright ©2011 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)