With the arrival of freezing rain Sunday afternoon, emergency crews were scrambling to respond to crashes from Saco to Mechanic Falls.
Auburn police Deputy Chief Jason Moen advised motorists to abandon the roadways and stay inside to watch football.
A message on the Androscoggin County Sheriff’s Department urged drivers to use caution. “The rain is freezing up and causing a lot of minor crashes throughout the county.
“The road crews are out doing their best,” the message stated. “If you have to go out, use extreme caution, drive slow and give yourself extra time to get to your destination — if you don’t have to go out, stay home and enjoy your evening.”
The National Weather Service in Gray initially issued a freezing rain advisory for much of the state, including all of Central Maine until 5 p.m. but extended the warning as temperatures struggled to rise above freezing.
According to WGME, inland areas will climb above freezing Sunday evening, when wind-swept rain will cover the region.
The mountains should see a few inches of snow before the precipitation moves out of the area, leaving clearing skies and gusty winds for Monday.
While those temperatures hovered around freezing, reports kept rolling in — a car striking a utility pole on Riverside Drive in Auburn, another car going into trees in Hebron.
On Facebook, the Oxford County ME Alerts page even posted a video of Cody Chassion ice skating on South Rumford Road.
As Sunday evening came, accidents involving utility poles drew the ire of football fans as lines came down in Androscoggin and Oxford counties. As of 8:30 p.m., Oxford County had the most outages with 2,675.
dmcintire@sunjournal.com
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