Blowing snow buries Maine > Whiteouts responsible for scores of accidents

loading...

A second wave of blowing snow swept across Maine on Sunday, causing whiteout conditions on highways and scores of accidents as more than a foot of snow piled up across parts of the state.

Up to 6 inches of additional snow was expected Sunday as howling winds wreaked havoc on crews trying to keep the swirling snow cleared from roadways, the National Weather Service said.

The gusts were expected to intensify overnight with wind chills averaging minus 10 to minus 30 across the state.

Speed limits were reduced on Interstate 95 and the Maine Turnpike for much of the weekend as state police were kept busy responding to scores of accidents and reports of vehicles off roads.

“It’s snowin’ and blowin’,” said Dave Oxley, assistant manager at Dysart’s Truck Stop and Restaurant in Hampden. “It’s messy. At times I can’t see the pumps across the street.”

Many truckers were seeking refuge at the truck stop and the parking lot was nearly full Sunday, Oxley said.

Some of the truckers had turned around after encountering a pileup Sunday afternoon that involved 10 to 12 vehicles in the southbound lanes of Interstate 95 in Carmel, state police said. The situation kept state Trooper Kyle Willette busy, and that portion of the southbound lane closed for about three hours, after the driver of one vehicle lost control and the vehicles behind it ran into one another. “This is a prime example of drivers going at an unsafe speed for the conditions,” Willette said.

Several people were taken to local hospitals with minor injuries, according to the trooper, who said most of them were wearing seat belts and a lot had vehicles with airbags that deployed. Some vehicles were totaled and a couple of snowmobiles were demolished, he said.

Police were busy elsewhere as well.

Troopers from the state police barracks in Augusta responded to 170 accidents and requests for assistance from motorists Saturday through Sunday afternoon, said dispatcher Charles Woodbury.

Troopers stationed at the Gray barracks, which is responsible for the Maine Turnpike, fielded 155 service calls Saturday and another 48 as of Sunday afternoon, a dispatcher said.

Snowfall totals as of 3 p.m. were 18 inches in Hartford, 13 inches in Jay, 10 inches in Waterford, 7 inches in Gray and 6 inches in Windham, said Eric Schibs, a meteorologist from the National Weather Service.

About 6 inches of snow fell in Portland, but the season’s average was still about 12 to 15 inches below normal, he said.

Sandy Negrete, a sales associate at Sears in Bangor, said the storm helped clear out the supply of snow blowers.

“There was no interest for a long time,” she said of the dearth of snow that ended Saturday. Only four snow blowers were left as of Sunday afternoon at the store at the Bangor Mall.

Things at Home Depot were quieter. “We’re not selling a thing right now,” said assistant manager Peter Catlin. “But when the snow stops blowing, hopefully people will come in and buy snow brushes, shovels and snow throwers — they’re all on sale.”

While the Bangor Mall closed at around 3 p.m., a spokesman from the nearby Kmart said that store had no intention of closing. “If we have customers we stay open,” he said. “And we have quite a few people floating around.”

Late afternoon in downtown Bangor, the assistant manager for Cadillac Mountain Sports said the store would remain open until its regular closing time at 5 p.m. “We were hoping there’d be more rentals for skis and snowshoes, but it’s been too nasty to go outside,” said Jason Zombron. “But we’ve had a fairly decent day, there were enough people milling about trying to find something to do.”

Winds of 25 mph with gusts at times of as much as 35 mph caused near whiteout conditions in parts of central and southern Aroostook County on Sunday afternoon.

As of 3 p.m. snow was still falling at the rate of an inch an hour in Caribou, with 15 inches on the ground at that time. At least 8 inches of snow had fallen at Houlton International Airport.

Despite the heavy snow, a spokesman at the state Department of Transportation office in Presque Isle said that plow crews were doing “pretty good” keeping up.

Back roads in some of the outlying areas in and around Houlton were still covered with 4 or 5 inches of snow after wind blew snow the consistency of baby powder back in behind plows and created 2-foot drifts in some places.

In downtown Houlton, snow blowing off the tops of multistory buildings created whiteout conditions. People leaving church late Sunday morning found their cars covered with twisted drifts of snow.

Some stores and restaurants closed early.

Sunday morning one woman was slightly injured when her car struck the back of a DOT plow truck on Route 2 in Linneus and went off the road. The car apparently hit the plow in a whiteout.

The injured woman, who was not identified, was taken by ambulance to Houlton Regional Hospital for treatment of minor injuries. Another person in the car and the driver of the plow were not hurt.

A two-vehicle accident at about 3 p.m. on Route 1 in Littleton also resulted in two people being taken to the hospital for treatment of unknown injuries.

Two tractor-trailers were involved in an accident at about 4 p.m. in the southbound lane of Interstate 95 on the bridge over the Meduxnekeag River about 1 1/2 miles south of the port of entry at the U.S.-Canadian border in Houlton.

The road was blocked for at least two hours. Southbound traffic coming across the border was directed through Houlton.

A fuel tank was torn off one of the trucks and about 150 gallons of diesel fuel spilled onto the roadway.

No injuries were reported.

The Waldo County Sheriff’s Department lost a cruiser to the weekend storm, but along the eastern Maine coast few other incidents of storm-related problems were reported.

Deputy Sheriff Mark Shade was on patrol at 11:30 p.m. Saturday on Route 131 in Searsmont when his 1997 Ford cruiser skidded out of control and collided with a town plow truck. Shade suffered a cut to the head, and was treated at Waldo County General Hospital and released. The cruiser was totaled. The truck driver was uninjured and his plow was undamaged. The accident is being investigated by the state police.

In Knox County, police departments and the county sheriff said that other than a few cars off the road, there were no problems.

“We haven’t had any accidents,” the county dispatcher said Sunday. “One car slid off the road but another guy came along and pulled him back on. The problem we’re seeing is that it’s difficult to keep sand on the roads. If we had cars out, they would push the sand into the road. But I suppose if we had cars out, we’d have accidents.”

Things were quiet in Washington County as people around Machias and Calais decided to hunker down and wait for the bad weather to subside before venturing outside.

“We’ve had a few vehicles off the road but everybody’s pretty much stayed inside,” the county dispatcher reported.

The same was the case in Hancock County where local and county law enforcement personnel reported that the roads were virtually free of traffic.

“People have chosen to settle in, watch movies and eat popcorn,” the Bar Harbor dispatcher reported. “We’ll probably have a baby boom in a few months.”