Nov. 26--Police reported more than 100 crashes -- none of them particularly severe -- throughout southern Maine as early-morning snow made for a slippery commute Tuesday morning.
One crash occurred when a 1998 Ford slid into a house at Mellen Street and Cumberland Avenue in Portland's Parkside neighborhood, smashing a hole in the brick foundation and showering Patrick Mulkern with dust.
Mulkern, an electrician, was connecting wires to an electrical panel in the basement when the car smashed through the foundation about 12 feet away at 8:13 a.m.
"All of the sudden I heard this loud explosion. I thought it was an earthquake at first," he said. "A big cloud of smoke came over and hit me. Bricks and glass went everywhere."
He was stunned to see the whole front end of the car protruding through the corner of the foundation. "It was unreal," he said.
Throughout southern Maine, police reported cars sliding into trees, into one another or just off the road. Tow trucks and officers were zipping from one crash to the next.
On Mellen Street alone, Mulkern saw seven or eight cars damaged as motorists trying to get up the hill slid into the oncoming lane and cars headed down were unable to stop.
"It was like bumper cars," he said. Portland police took reports of 49 crashes during the commute, many of them in the steep areas around Mellen, Walnut and York streets.
Portland Services Director Michael Bobinsky said road crews were expecting a light snow, but weren't counting on it melting and freezing again during the morning commute.
"We did not anticipate the timing of this storm exactly, so around 6 a.m. when our crews were actually deployed, that's when the inch of snow and the ice occurred and started to build up," Bobinsky said. "It doesn't leave us with a lot of time to treat the streets in advance of traffic."
Bobinsky said his crews, with 14 to 15 road plows and sanders, focused on the city's main arteries, intersections and hills on the east and west ends of the peninsula and he felt they did a good job responding to the first storm of the season. He said crews will be on duty tonight and into tomorrow preparing for heavy rains that are forecast for Wednesday.
Many police agencies said the large number of slide-offs and fender benders is typical for an early season storm as motorists get acclimated to winter driving, remembering to go slow and leave more room between themselves and the car in front of them.
In Lebanon, in York County, fire and rescue workers responded to several crashes, including one on Champion Street where a woman driving a 2005 Ford Mustang left the road, barely missed a utility pole and a small pond but hit a retaining wall, said Rescue Assistant Chief Jason Cole. The driver regained control of the damaged car and drove off but Cole was able to follow a trail of radiator anti-freeze until he caught up to her across the New Hampshire state line in Milton.
The woman was taken to Frisbie Memorial Hospital in Dover, N.H., for injuries that were not believed to be life-threatening, Cole said.
"We always see a lot of accidents during the first snowstorms and we encourage motorists to take extra time traveling to school or work and to ensure they have appropriate tires," Cole said. "You should also carry a safety kit with supplies in case you get stranded during the cold."
The Maine Turnpike Authority and Department of Transportation lowered interstate speed limits to 45 mph at 6:30 a.m. The normal speed limit was later restored on the turnpike.
The turnpike authority also posted a heavy-traffic alert at 9 a.m. because of the need to clear multiple minor accidents from the highway.
In Yarmouth a state trooper blocked the exit 17 northbound on-ramp as tow trucks pulled a car back onto the road after it had slid into a chain-link fence alongside the visitor's center.
Dispatchers in York and Cumberland counties and for the state police reported many cars sliding off the roads and minor crashes, but no serious injuries.
In Portland, despite the mayhem, Mulkern -- looking out the new hole in the foundation at Mellen and Cumberland -- was feeling pretty good about his brush with disaster.
"Nothing can touch me for the rest of the day," he said boldly.
David Hench can be contacted at 791-6327 or at:[email protected]
Copyright 2013 - Portland Press Herald, Maine
