A winter storm moving up the East Coast that is expected to bring several inches of snow to eastern Maine by Sunday morning caused a spate of vehicle accidents Saturday in coastal Maine, according to reports.
The storm is expected to dump between 6 to 10 inches of snow in southern Penobscot County and in interior Hancock and Washington counties, according to a bulletin from National Weather Service. Most of the snow was expected to accumulate by late Saturday night.
Coastal areas in southern Maine also were predicted to get between 4 to 8 inches of snow. One to 2 inches was expected to fall in other areas, with little to none in the western mountains and far northern Maine.
Television stations in southern Maine posted late Saturday morning on social media that snow in that part of the state had caused several accidents on the roadways. The Maine Turnpike Authority reduced the speed limit on the turnpike between the New Hampshire border and Augusta to 45 mph Saturday morning because of the weather.
A series of crashes closed Route 1 in both directions in Brunswick Saturday morning just south of Cook’s Corner.
According to a release from Lt. Tom Garrepy of the Brunswick Police Department, one person was injured. Pamela Morency, 54, of Brunswick was taken to Maine Medical Center with injuries that were not life-threatening after the 2006 Ford Escape she was driving left the road and hit ledges, causing it to roll over, Garrepy said.
Route 1 was closed for about an hour, with traffic detoured onto Bath Road, but it was reopened about 11:35 a.m. No information was immediately available about the other crashes.
About midday Saturday, emergency response personnel were called to multiple accidents throughout Hancock and Washington counties, but none were believed to have resulted in life-threatening injuries.
