ROCHESTER, N.Y. (WROC) — Monday marks 34 years exactly since Rochester’s “ice storm of the century.”

The storm arrived on Sunday, March 3rd 1991 and would leave tens of thousands without power for days, and some for weeks.

The ice event began around 10:30 p.m. that evening and freezing rain fell for about 17 hours. The city alone lost more than 10,000 trees.

“It took me nearly 45 minutes to make what usually was a 10 minute drive home,” News 8 anchor John Kucko recalled. “I remember saying to my wife ‘we’re getting the mother of all ice storms right now’ when I arrived home, but little did I know just how bad it was going to get.

“By 5 a.m. the next morning, I awoke to what I thought were gunshots outside,” Kucko said. “It was trees crashing to the ground, transformers exploding. It looked like the apocalypse had arrived in the region.”

Kucko said his family lost power for a week, and he considers himself lucky as 750,000 in the area would lose access to electricity from the storm.

A dozen counties were declared natural disaster areas, and more than $375 million in damage occurred.