The Erie County Emergency Operations Center is the hub for action during a storm like the one Western New York is still dealing with.

“You hope for the best, prepare for the worst," said Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz. "This was the worst.”

The impact of the Christmas weekend blizzard continues to grow.

“This was 70 to 80 mile per hour winds, hurricane force winds, for 24 hours straight with three feet of visibility," he said. "So we're saying this was an extreme blizzard.”

The people at the forefront of the response are based here, the EOC.

“There was trucks. There was snowcats. There were snowmobiles. It was all in this," he pointed out in one of the garages. "You couldn't walk in here before the storm.”

Spectrum News 1 got a look inside the still very active hub for everything from picking up 911 calls and sending out equipment to making the final call on travel bans.

“We have to triage and have to make some of the tough decisions with regards to resources,” said Dan Neaverth Jr., the commissioner of the Department of Homeland Security and Emergency Services.

A system called DisasterLAN helps these groups coordinate. It's been in place since just after the Blizzard of '77.

“We all share the information instantaneously,” said Poloncarz.

Many employees called the building home at some point over the past five days.

“A lot of people just had to stay here for hours and hours on end, sleeping on cots,” Poloncarz detailed.

Working 12-hours shifts, they did swap out, but it still takes a toll.

“At the height of the storm we were getting dozens and dozens of calls per minute,” he added.

Not being able to respond at the height of the storm…

“It was gut-wrenching," said Poloncarz. "It was heartbreaking.”

Exhaustion is having an impact.

“Mental health is a concern," said Poloncarz. "I've had to order people to leave to go to sleep. I've had to order people to take breaks because it’s just been a very, very long, time-consuming — I mean, the human body is not meant to be up for three days in a row.”

But their work isn’t done. Buffalo, the most severely impacted area, remains the final place to at least somewhat bounce back.

“There's some roads where the road has no snow on it because it blew off, but 40 feet down the road it could be a seven-foot drift," Poloncarz explained. "That's the difficulty of it. You can't plow through a seven-foot drift at all unless it's very small.”

This is a community that’s gone through a lot.

“I believe 2022 is going to go down as the worst year in the city of Buffalo’s history,” he said.

The hope is that the teamwork, dedication and sense of community here will remain the longest-lasting impact.

“We embrace our winters, but this is something no one should embrace, no one would want," Poloncarz said. "I'm hopeful that people will look at our community for what it truly is and not be defined by a snowstorm.”