LEWISTON – People are digging out again after the second winter storm in less than a week blanketed the region with snow.

“The snow will fall heavily at times through the early morning hours and start tapering off by daybreak,” Jim Hayes, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Gray, said Sunday night.

The storm system moved up the coast into New Hampshire and Maine Sunday, bringing with it heavy snow and wind that caused whiteout conditions for motorists brave enough to travel Sunday night.

Rescue crews and law enforcement agencies were busy with crashes Sunday night as cars slid off the turnpike and a head-on collision resulted in injuries on Route 4 near Lake Auburn. Police in Auburn handled five accidents, while Lewiston officers handled four as of late Sunday night.

Parking bans were ordered Sunday afternoon in Auburn, Lewiston, Portland, Brunswick and dozens of other Maine cities and towns.

High winds also wreaked havoc on several utility companies Sunday night by knocking down lines. Central Maine Power reported on its Web site that there were dozens of power outages throughout the region.

Hayes said Sunday night that the storm was expected to dump nine to 14 inches in the Kennebec Valley region, which extends from Lewiston north into Waldo County. Parts of Maine awoke to as many as 9 inches of fresh snow from a storm system that moved through Wednesday and Thursday.