SANFORD — The rain hit cold, cold roadways inland late Sunday morning, causing surfaces to slick up quickly. The icy roadways – mostly west of the turnpike, meant lots and lots of slide-offs and rollovers on the highways and byways – and lots of slips and falls in driveways and on porches and in parking lots.

And despite salting and sanding, roads iced up again overnight; just before 7:30 a.m. today first responders were dealing with a roll-over on Back Road in Shapleigh, according to a dispatch supervisor.

The good news? Sanford Regional Communications Center reported no fatalities as a result of slick roads and falls.

But the dispatch center – and those responding to crashes and slide-offs, and, of course, the road crews called out to salt and sand the mess – were very busy.

“We were crazy busy. We were inundated with calls from about 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.,” said SRCC dispatch supervisor Cindy Bailey, who estimated the agency took more than 75 calls during that time period. After 3 p.m., the calls continued steadily, she said.

“I had a great crew working with me,” Bailey said.

West of the turnpike, the agency serves Sanford, York County Sheriff’s Office, North Berwick police and several fire and rescue departments

Today, temperatures are expected to rise into the 40s. Meteorologist Mike Kistner, of the National Weather Service Office in Gray, said this morning there were no big weather systems in the forecast, and normal temperatures are expected throughout the next seven days. The forecast for central York County shows lows in the teens and single digits at night, with the highs in the high 20s and lower 30s through Friday. There’s no precipitation forecast for that period.

What happened Sunday was the effect of rain hitting roadways and other surfaces still very cold after a week or more of temperatures that never got above freezing in the daytime and were either below zero or close to it at night, Kistner explained. The rain froze on contact, and temperatures stayed right around freezing until last evening, warmed up a bit and then cooled down below freezing again, enough for some to slick up again overnight.

In Biddeford, east of the turnpike, the story at the dispatch center was different – a dispatcher this morning said call volumes were normal Sunday afternoon.

Social media was abuzz with talk of icy roads Sunday afternoon, with area police agencies and sheriff’s deputies taking to Facebook to post cautions about road conditions and driving. Both the Sanford Police Depeartment and York County Sheriff’s Office advised drivers to stay off the roads on Sunday.

Today is Jan. 19. Spring officially arrives March 20. 

— Senior Staff Writer Tammy Wells can be contacted at 324-4444 (local call in Sanford) or 282-1535, ext. 327 or twells@journaltribune.com.