Freezing rain that produced black ice created havoc along several eastern Maine roads and highways Friday night, causing dozens of motor vehicle accidents, stalling traffic, and making life miserable for emergency workers and police trying to respond to the slippery situation.

Several rollover accidents were reported from Old Town to Newport along Interstate 95 beginning around 7 p.m. in a flurry of activity that dwindled after about two hours, but continued throughout the evening.

Bangor police estimated that they handled a couple of dozen accidents. At the Penobscot Regional Communications Center, which dispatches for much of Penobscot County, dispatchers hadn’t begun to tally the calls they received. A Maine State Police dispatcher reported that by about 11 p.m. they had received 371 phone calls related to accidents.

At least one accident necessitated a call to LifeFlight, the emergency helicopter service. But the icy weather conditions kept the chopper in Bangor grounded. Signs along the interstate flashed cautions, urging motorists to reduce speeds to 45 mph. In some areas even the lower speed was too fast as a sheen of ice made driving at a snail’s pace risky.

Public works crews were called in to sand the more treacherous areas, but one sand truck driver on his way to work became entangled in the same traffic jams that slowed ambulances and prompted them to use breakdown lanes to get through.

Ambulances and fire departments accustomed to providing mutual aid to neighboring communities extended their reach as they were sent wherever they were needed. Dispatchers sorted through the barrage of reported accidents, directing and sometimes redirecting ambulances and police.

A Carmel ambulance heading to an accident on Route 69 in Newburgh was flagged down on Route 143 near Exit 43 in Etna by a pregnant woman who, with her mother, had been headed to Eastern Maine Medical Center in Bangor, before concerns over road conditions stopped them cold.

“They couldn’t go any further in their vehicle; they needed an ambulance,” said Plymouth Assistant Fire Chief Jason Gaudet, who was told that the woman had been sick and vomiting earlier in the day.

An ambulance crew from Plymouth fire and rescue was called in to assist and monitor the woman until an ambulance from Bangor could take her to EMMC.

Accidents also were reported along U.S. Route 1A in Hampden, Union Street in Hermon and I-395 in Bangor.