Freezing rain, ice sweep parts of New England

New England's first major ice storm of the season spread freezing rain across the region Sunday, downing trees and knocking out power to thousands of homes.

More than a half-inch of ice had accumulated in parts of northern and western Connecticut, and more than 130,000 Northeast Utility customers were without power at the height of the outages.

Several towns in the northwest part of the state set up emergency shelters while more than 100 linemen worked to restore power. Nearly 120,000 customers remained powerless Sunday.

Most of Maine had 3 to 5 inches of snow by the afternoon, and trees were sagging under the weight of ice.

Dozens of cars slid off highways and speed limits were reduced to 45 mph on the Maine Turnpike and Interstate 95.

In Massachusetts, more than 10,000 power outages were reported in central and southeastern parts of the state overnight after ice weighed down limbs and broke power lines. State police reported dozens of minor accidents and at least one serious accident, in Andover, north of Boston.