Police and firefighters had their hands full Sunday afternoon when they responded to a multi-vehicle pileup that shut down Interstate 295 in Freeport.
Maine State Police said no one was seriously hurt, but that the weather was partly to blame for the series of accidents involving 14 different vehicles.
“Heavy downpours along with significantly heavy traffic were factors,” police said.
Police first responded to the area, near mile marker 22 on the northbound side, around 3:13 p.m.
“When the first officer and trooper arrived on scene they found that there were a total of five separate crashes involving at least 14 vehicles,” police said in a statement.
The vehicles and debris, police said, were scattered along half a mile of the highway, mostly on the median side.
There were no serious injuries, but police said one person was taken to Midcoast Hospital in Brunswick for treatment of minor injuries. “At least five of the vehicles” were towed from the scene, while the rest were drivable, police said.
The accidents shut down the northbound side of the highway for more than an hour.