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Three tractor-trailers parked on Main Street in the village of Adams fade away into white out snow from lake effect storm. Thirty to 40 big rigs were stranded in the village during the storm.

(Gary Walts | gwalts@syracuse.com)

Adams, N.Y. -- The first stranded Canadians straggled out of the raging snowstorm and into the warmth of the Adams fire hall about noon Tuesday.

Over the next 24 hours, the tiny village of Adams opened its arms to about 150 travelers and truckers who couldn't go any farther on Interstate 81 and other roads.

Local businesses in this village of 1,700 donated sandwiches, pizzas, and eggs and bacon to the fire department. Up to 100 volunteers set up cots and made coffee at the fire hall. And when the fire hall filled up, village residents opened their homes to provide beds and breakfast to more than 40 weary travelers.

"Once the people in Adams knew we were looking for homes, they all just rallied right around," said Connie Elliot, who helped organize the housing drive on Facebook. "I'm so, so proud of our little village."

Mollie Bangs, left, of Adams, hosted a family from Quebec after they were stranded by the lake effect storm on Jan. 7, 2014. Bangs provided the family, who were returning from Florida, with winter clothes.

Most of the travelers were Canadians on their way back from vacation from as far south as Florida. A family of five from Quebec ended up at the home of Mollie Bangs, 93, and her caregiver, Michael Smith. Only one spoke English, Smith said.

The family was returning from Florida and hadn't packed any winter clothes, Smith said. Bangs dug out coats, scarves and hats.

"We had a good time with them," said Bangs, who said she had a family stay with her for a week during the blizzard of 1977. "I wouldn't ask for anybody better."

The snow kept falling - and falling. Bob Simpson, a former fire chief who volunteered to help at the fire hall, said 3 feet fell overnight.

As Tuesday night turned into Wednesday morning, village streets filled with stranded tractor-trailers that couldn't climb the hills of Route 11. Thirty to 40 big rigs jammed parking lots and even the streets, blocking traffic and snow plows, said Joe Plummer, director of the Jefferson County Office of Fire and Emergency Management.

With I-81 closed and Route 11 blocked by trucks, travelers found their way to the only traffic light in town -- and the fire hall that sits at that corner.

While the storm raged outside, a community formed inside.

"The stranded people cooked breakfast," Simpson said. "They came out in the kitchen and volunteered. It was like a family reunion with 150 people."

In homes across the village, hosts and waylaid visitors were having their own cultural exchanges.

Kathy Sheley, right, of Adams, hosted a stranded Canadian traveler, Stacey, on Jan. 7, 2014, during a heavy lake effect snow storm that shut down I-81.

Sue and Duffy Hamilton opened their home to a couple and their 8-year-old daughter from Gatineau, Quebec, who were returning from Florida. The father, Matthew, had suffered nerve injuries in an accident in 1999 and wore braces from his knees to his ankles, Sue Hamilton said.

Matthew - the Hamiltons, like many other hosts, didn't get their guests' last names - wanted to pay back the hospitality.

"He went out with our snow blower and blew almost the whole driveway," Sue Hamilton said.

At Kathy Sheley's house, the Fort Drum soldier who stayed with her, Jesse Brown, helped shovel 4 feet of snow from the back deck.

During the night, Sheley said, Brown's wife needed medicine. The fire department's rescue squad drove to Sheley's house, picked up the prescription, had it filled at a local pharmacy and brought back the medicine, she said.

Thirty to 40 tractor-trailers were stranded in the village of Adams after a brutal lake-effect storm shut down I-81.

Marge Hough's five visitors, who were returning from Florida and Maryland, helped mitigate her own disaster. Hough was making coffee about 7:30 a.m. Wednesday when she heard water dripping through the ceiling.

"My water pipe broke in the bathroom upstairs," she said. "They helped me set up wastebaskets to catch water from the ceiling. Without them, I probably would have been a disaster myself."

About 11 a.m. Wednesday, it looked like the travelers were going to be stuck in Adams for another day. Hough's visitors decided to return to their car parked at the fire hall to get warmer clothes. Once they arrived, they heard that I-81 was reopening and they would be allowed to leave in a couple of hours.

State police and transportation first organized a convoy of tractor-trailers to move them north and clear village streets. Led by a snow plow and escorted by state police cars, the line of tractor-trailers gathered on I-81 and headed north about 11 a.m., Plummer said.

A couple hours later, about 20 passenger vehicles left the same way, he said. The emergency shelter at the Adams fire hall was shut down.

Cars and trucks head south on Route 11 in the village of Adams Wednesday before I-81 reopened. About 150 travelers were stranded in the village overnight.

After the last convoy departed Wednesday afternoon, a weary Brian Berkey, the Adams fire chief, posted a thank-you on his Facebook page

"We can all go home now and sleep," Berkey wrote. "Thanks to all the members and (auxiliary) members and our community that took people in. What a great place to live with neighbors like we have."

Contact Glenn Coin at gcoin@syracuse.com or 315-470-3251. Follow him on Twitter @glenncoin

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