Snowstorm causes problems for motorists

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A winter storm left Maine on Tuesday after dumping up to 8 inches of snow and boosting the prospects for a white Christmas in much of the state.

The National Weather Service reported 8 inches of snow in the eastern Maine town of Whiting, 7 inches in Wilton, 5 inches in North Sebago and 3 inches in Portland. Aroostook County got an inch or two. Bangor received 7 inches.

The snow, which changed over to sleet and freezing rain in some areas, gave many motorists their first taste of winter driving this season. Scores of accidents, most of them fender benders, were reported across the state.

The speed limit on the Maine Turnpike was lowered to 45 mph at the height of the storm. Maine State Police urged motorists to adjust their speeds accordingly and leave plenty of braking distance between vehicles.

With just a week to go before Christmas, weather watchers said more snow could be on the way.

“We’ve got another system dropping in on Thursday and that could bring some more snow,” said Bob Marine, a meteorologist at the weather service in Gray.

Some of the accidents Tuesday were frightening. A head-on collision on a bridge on Route 2 in Hermon, less than half a mile from the Carmel town line, sent a Hampden woman to the hospital.

Joyce Rankin, 57, was taken to Eastern Maine Medical Center in Bangor for treatment of injuries she suffered in a collision with a pickup truck driven by Desmond Harvey, 36, of Levant, according to Deputy Bill Laughlin of the Penobscot County Sheriff’s Department. Rankin was in serious condition Tuesday evening, according to a hospital spokesman. Harvey escaped serious injury.

Rankin, who was pinned in a maroon Mercedes after it skidded into a guardrail, was removed from the wreck with hydraulic extrication equipment brought to the accident scene by the Bangor Fire Department, Laughlin said.

According to Laughlin, the accident occurred about 1:30 p.m. Rankin was traveling east on Route 2 when she lost control of her car, which fishtailed, spun around and swerved into the path of a black Chevrolet pickup truck driven by Harvey. The accident, on a slushy stretch of Route 2, resulted in the temporarily closure of a short section of that road to through traffic.

Two guards in an armored truck traveling in southern Aroostook County escaped serious injury Tuesday afternoon when their armored car went off Interstate 95 in Crystal and rolled over.

Maine State Police Trooper Greg Burns said the Brink’s armored truck was southbound at about 1 p.m. when snow and ruts on the highway caused the truck to go off the left side of the road into the median. The truck went into a swampy area where it rolled over onto its right side.

Richard Harbaugh, 58, of Eddington, the driver, and Bryan Hardison, 34, of Orono, the guard riding in the back of the truck, were found suspended in their seat belts when rescuers arrived.

The Island Falls ambulance took Harbaugh to Millinocket Regional Hospital complaining of neck and back pain. He was treated and released.

Hardison complained of a sore back, Burns said, but declined to be taken to the hospital.

A large wrecker was sent to the scene from Eddington and a second armored truck was sent from Bangor. The passing lane was closed down for several hours while the money was transferred from one armored truck to another, and the damaged truck was removed.

Burns said damage to the front right end of the armored truck was extensive.

The Island Falls Fire Department rescue unit also responded to the crash.

A mix of rain and snow on Mount Desert Island caused several motorists to lose control of their vehicles, and a Mount Desert man to flip his Mazda.

Richard Maurer, 25, drifted into the heavy mix of rain and snow on the shoulder of the road, and lost control of his car at about 1:20 p.m., while driving north on Route 198 in Northeast Harbor, said Patrolman Kevin Edgecomb of the Mount Desert Police Department.

The car landed on its roof in the ditch. Maurer was wearing his seat belt, and although the car was totaled, he was not injured in the accident.

“The road conditions were so bad going down that hill that it didn’t matter what speed you were driving,” Edgecomb said.

Bar Harbor police reported five motorists off the road and two minor accidents Tuesday.

The snowy weather was responsible for a Tuesday morning rollover accident in Sullivan. Jane Piper, 51, of Hancock was driving a 1995 Chevrolet Blazer east at 6 a.m. on Route 1 near Frizbeez restaurant when she lost control of the sport utility vehicle in the snow, according to Sgt. Scott Kane of the Hancock County Sheriff’s Department. The Blazer went off the right side of the road and rolled, Kane said. Piper complained of pain but refused medical treatment. The Chevrolet was demolished, he said.

Police departments all across Waldo County were kept busy with cars sliding off the road and fender benders from the moment snow started falling Monday night into Tuesday.

Between the Waldo County Sheriff’s Department, and Lincolnville, Searsport and Belfast police departments, more than three dozen minor accidents were reported. The accidents occurred in nearly every town in the county. Belfast police responded to 10 accidents and multiple accidents were reported in Lincolnville, Northport, Knox, Montville, Liberty, Brooks, Winterport and Searsmont.

“We’ve had a steady day of it,” Belfast Police Chief Allen Weaver said Tuesday. “Cars skidding off the road, fender benders, you name it. Fortunately there were no injuries, just property damage. The tow trucks have been busy and so have we. Since the snow started it’s been one right after the other.”

Because of Tuesday’s snowfall, SAD 68 officials canceled classes at the Charleston Elementary School at noon. School officials announced earlier this year that any significant snowfall would result in the cancellation of classes because of the structural problems at the school. Officials worry that the added weight on the aging school roof would further jeopardize the safety of the pupils.

Plans have been made by the district to vacate the school in mid-January and to bus the pupils to portable classrooms at the Mayo Avenue Elementary School in Dover-Foxcroft for the remainder of the school year.