BUFFALO, N.Y. -- About 100 people spent most of the night in snowbound cars on the New York State Thruway southwest of Buffalo and are finally being freed.

Troopers used all-terrain vehicles and snowmobiles to keep in touch with motorists who got stuck when blowing snow shut down a stretch of Interstate 90 from Dunkirk, N.Y., to Erie, Pa., at about 1:30 a.m.

Emergency crews topped off gas tanks and checked on people by cell phone during the night before starting to turn drivers around and guide them off the closed roadway Friday morning.

The Lake Erie-fed snow continues to fall in the border area and other regions south and east of Buffalo.