While most people had Monday off from work as a federal holiday, emergency responders and road crews were working overtime.

A dusting of snow covered roadways in the early morning, adding the right amount of moisture to sub-freezing surfaces to cause nearly invisible black ice. The result: a dozen cars skidding and crashing between approximately 8:30 and 9 a.m. in St. Mary’s County.

As the cars began to skid off the road between Callaway, Hollywood and Park Hall, police officials declared a county snow emergency at 8:30 a.m. and ordered salt and sand trucks to hit the roads as fast as possible. They did not arrive fast enough.

Shortly before 8:30 a.m. police dispatched a multi-vehicle accident on Rt. 5 in Callaway near Fairground Road, with several cars involved.

As emergency personnel responded to Callaway, two separate crashes occurred on Rt. 4/St. Andrews Church Road, and a third on Rt. 4 was reported about a half hour later.

In the first Rt. 4 crash, three vehicles were involved and an SUV reportedly flipped. A power pole guy wire was taken out. While police were there, another vehicle went sliding off the roadway just up the road. Police issued bulletins to each other to be careful of the roads when responding.

At Rt. 5 and Adkins Road, a car reportedly skidded off the road at about 9 a.m., within a half hour and injury accident occurred in the same location.

Shortly after that, a vehicle flipped on Rt. 5 in Park Hall in the area of Cooks Liquors.

And the mayhem continued as a Waste Management garbage truck skidded off the road onto its side on Bay Forest Road in St. James shortly before 10 a.m. The truck spewed hydraulic oil on the road, causing a hazardous situation, and the HazMat team was called out and overworked sand trucks were dispatched also. At 10:20 a.m. two vehicles tangled on Rt. 235 out front of Dean Lumber. Luckily no injuries were reported.

The snow emergency plan was lifted in St. Mary’s County at 11 a.m.

It was much of the same story across the bridge in Calvert County as emergency workers responded to skidding vehicles, and at least one car into a tree.