DOUGLAS COUNTY, Colo. — A local school district deployed some of its buses and drivers to transport to safety motorists who were stranded in a blizzard on Wednesday and Thursday.

Douglas County School District school bus drivers rescued motorists who were stuck in their cars on a handful of highways and took them to shelters throughout Wednesday evening, according to the district’s Facebook page. (The district’s schools were closed on Wednesday and Thursday due to the weather conditions.)

Douglas County Sheriff’s Office told KDVR that the drivers drove the buses in caravans with police cars and snow plows.

As of Wednesday evening, the district’s bus drivers had rescued more than 450 people, according to its Facebook page. Just after 8:00 a.m. on Thursday morning, the first of the district’s buses involved in the effort had left a shelter to return passengers to their vehicles.

“This will be another long day, but we are proud and honored to serve our community!” the district added on its Facebook page.

“Couldn’t do what we do without these amazing drivers,” the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office tweeted on Wednesday.  

Douglas County School District ran a total of seven buses and transported about 700 people from their vehicles to shelters on Wednesday, and then returned them to their cars on Thursday, Paula Hans, the public information officer for the school district, told SBF.

The blizzard, also being referred to as a “bomb cyclone,” brought hurricane-force wind gusts and heavy snow to Colorado’s mountains, Front Range, and Eastern Plains on Wednesday, The Denver Post reports. The blizzard forced highway closures statewide, cut power to over 200,000 homes and businesses, and shut down runways at the Denver International Airport, prompting Gov. Jared Polis to declare an emergency, according to the newspaper.

View photos posted on the Douglas County School District’s Facebook page of the some of the buses and drivers involved in the effort below.