Who pays?

Yesterday we had a pretty big snow storm. We ended up with much more snow than anticipated. It left thousands of people without power and one specific area had drivers stranded, some for 24+ hours. Basically people were sliding all over the roads, their stranded cars stopped traffic with tow trucks and plows unable to reach them causing the traffic to be at a standstill and the snow was coming down so fast that the cars that had nowhere to go are now stuck in place. My friend left work at 5pm and didn’t get home (30 miles away) until 7am. Now in order to clear the roads tow trucks are basically starting at one end and working their way through the stranded cars one by one. So my question is, who should pay for the tow trucks? The city the roads are in who are responsible for road cleanup/maintenance? The state? Or the vehicle owners for choosing to travel during dangerous winter conditions?