Season’s first major snowstorm causes crashes, closings

Jamie Mower of Ace Towing tries to jumpstart Al Speller’s car during Tuesday’s snowstorm in downtown Lewiston. Speller said the dead battery not only cost him the price of a service call but a ticket for violating the city’s parking ban. Daryn Slover/Sun Journal Buy this Photo

The first major snowstorm of the season produced deep snow and dangerous travel Tuesday, resulting in numerous automobile accidents and school closures.

Even the state offices were closed at the instruction of Gov. Janet Mills.

Meteorologist Derek Schroeter of the National Weather Service in Gray said southern Maine received the brunt of the storm, with Portland and other cities in coastal Cumberland County receiving between 8 and 12 inches of snow.

As of 5:15 p.m., the National Weather Service of Maine’s website estimated nearly 8 inches of snow had fallen in Lewiston and Auburn, while sections of western Maine had received between 5 and 8 inches.

Schroeter said there was nothing out of the ordinary about Tuesday’s snowstorm.

“Last year, we had a few storms in November that brought over 6 inches,” Schroeter said. “This is pretty normal for the time of year.”

While there were no major storm-related car accidents Tuesday in central or western Maine, Androscoggin County Sheriff Eric Samson said many vehicles slid off roads and a driver was hospitalized after crashing his car on Meadow Hill Road in Greene.

He added the Sheriff’s Office “had some problems” throughout the day with towns not clearing roads fast enough for traffic.

“We had to make some calls to towns, in terms of getting the roads cleared,” Samson said.

Among its responsibilities, the Androscoggin County Sheriff’s Office covers calls for Greene, Leeds, Wales and Durham.

Auburn police Sgt. Christopher Hatfield said slick roads and “the first plowable storm of the season” led to many minor accidents involving cars sliding off roads or into one another.

“There was nothing major, though,” Hatfield said.

The storm shut down state offices, all courts in Oxford, Androscoggin and Franklin counties and U.S. District Court in Portland.

Andy Allen and daughter, Makenzie Allen, 5, slide down the hill Tuesday at Pettengill Park in Auburn. Makenzie is a kindergartener at Washburn Elementary School and had the day off from school because of the snowstorm. Daryn Slover/Sun Journal Buy this Photo

In Lewiston and Auburn, parking bans went into effect early Tuesday and remained in place until 11 p.m.

The town of Brunswick announced a parking ban that prohibits parking on all town streets and at municipal parking lots from midnight to 7 a.m. Wednesday morning.

Some Lewiston businesses, including Forage Market on Lisbon Street, closed early, and the city of Lewiston canceled a City Council meeting scheduled for Tuesday night.

The snowstorm even interfered with the city of Lewiston’s trash collection. City officials said if crews are unable to pick up trash in a neighborhood, residents should bring their trash back from the street and the city will collect it next Tuesday.

Dale Doughty, director of the Lewiston Public Works Department, said he had 29 trucks, including sanders, plow trucks and graders, covering 189 miles of city roads. He also had four sidewalk plows out for most of the day.

“I think we’ve done pretty well (balancing) the main roads and the secondary roads,” Doughty said, adding many side roads were “pretty slick” due to “the type of snow that is falling and the rate at which it’s falling.”

“Those side roads are cleared out,” Doughty said, “but it’s that wet, mealy snow that packs onto the road. And there’s not a lot of tires to heat up the pavement and get the salt and sand working.”

Zach, top right, and Sam, lower left, clear snow from the walkways of a Knox Street apartment building in downtown Lewiston on Tuesday. Zach and Sam declined to give their last names. Daryn Slover/Sun Journal