From staff reports

Typical spring weather sloshed across Oxford County on Monday, confounding drivers and tying up emergency personnel all day.

Most of the rollovers, wrecks and slide-offs resulted in minor injuries, said Oxford County Sheriff’s Capt. James P. Miclon.

But, at 9:30 a.m. in Mexico, two Mountain Valley High School seniors from Rumford were injured and had to be extricated after the car they were in flipped off a snow-slick Route 120.

Driver Katrina Averill and passenger Catherine Parisi, both 18, were taken by Med-Care Ambulance to Rumford Hospital, said Mexico Police Chief James Theriault.

Theriault, who followed them to the hospital, said that Averill was treated and released. But, he added, Parisi, who complained of neck pain and a knee injury, was still being examined.

Later in the afternoon, hospital spokeswoman Jane Bubar would neither confirm nor deny that Parisi had even been to the hospital.

Theriault said the accident occurred as Averill and Parisi were leaving the high school in Rumford.

“Averill lost control due to snow on the road, and the car spun around, hit a snowbank and flipped over it and into some trees,” he said.

Rumford firefighters freed the pair by removing the car’s rear window. The car was totaled, Theriault said, estimating damage at $5,000.

In another rollover, Zachary B. Donahue, 19, and Dana McKeen, 18, both of Dixfield, escaped injury Monday afternoon when the 1999 Chevrolet sport utility vehicle they were in apparently hit slush on Route 2, spun around and rolled over onto a banking, Theriault said.

He said the accident, which caused an estimated $15,000 damage to the SUV, was likely caused by a combination of poor road conditions and driver inexperience.

Mexico firefighters helped with traffic at both scenes.

According to Miclon, Oxford County Sheriff’s Office deputies responded to accidents from Brownfield and Buckfield to Hartford. Norway, Oxford and Paris police were busy as well.

“There’s been over a dozen accidents,” he said as of 2:30 p.m. “The roads are pretty slippery.”

Miclon said his own daughter was involved in a rollover accident near Turner. A deputy he spoke with said there had been four accidents just down the road from that wreck.

“So, it’s been an interesting morning,” Miclon added.

Mark Hume, a Maine Department of Transportation engineer in Dixfield, said the majority of accidents Monday were slush-related.

“People were getting caught up in the slush and shoved off the road,” he said.

The hardest-hit areas included Carrabassett Valley and Sugarloaf and Rangeley, he said.

“It’s just wet, sloppy weather, a typical spring storm. The main roads look pretty good, but the back roads are a little bit tough to travel on,” Hume added about 4 p.m.

Staff writers Terry Karkos, Kelly Morgan and Eileen Adams contributed to this story.