ROCHESTER, N.Y. -- Snow began falling and it just kept on piling up. At the Emergency Operations Center, representatives from city, county and state departments remained focused.
"We've monitored the situation as people have throughout the county and folks at home are monitoring it as well," said County Executive Cheryl Dinolfo, R-Monroe County. "No one expected the storm would hit at the time it did with the intensity that it did."
Dinolfo said that's why she didn't issue the travel advisory and closure of county facilities until 10 a.m. Tuesday.
"Certainly it was predicted there would be some snowfall overnight, but it was certainly not predicted that while people commuted to work, the snow would intensify to the level that it did," Dinolfo said.
Rochester was blanketed in nearly 18 inches of snow; other areas like Irondequoit saw 22. Interstate 490 was closed in both directions for a handful of hours as tow trucks worked to remove dozens of stranded semi-trucks. Monroe County Sheriff Patrick O'Flynn said the 18-wheelers were the culprit of the backup.
"A couple of them got stuck on the grade, it only has to be a five or 10 percent grade and they just couldn’t get their wheels to stop spinning," O'Flynn said.
"We actually had our snowmobiles out up on 490 to try and get to each of the cars to check them out, make sure the people are OK and to just explain to them when we were anticipating they were going to be able to move."
O'Flynn said the department received three times the calls it normally does and that called for all hands on deck. Thankfully, he says, there wasn't anything serious.
The sheriff's department issued its own no travel advisory early Tuesday morning. Despite drivers not heeding the warning, O'Flynn commends them on their patience.
"This community is great and I just want to thank them for how they responded," O'Flynn said.
Now that the snow as stopped falling the cleanup begins and another Western New York snow storm is in the books.