The icy conditions Wednesday evening caused eight injury accidents in Douglas County, but sheriff’s officials said no one suffered injuries that were believed to be life-threatening.

The freezing drizzle and slick roads caused closures on at least two area highways, and Douglas County emergency dispatchers were inundated with calls for help.

Sgt. Steve Lewis, a sheriff’s spokesman, said dispatchers received more than 570 calls between 5 p.m. and 10 p.m. Wednesday.

Between 6 p.m. and 7 p.m. alone, they received 188 calls. Before then the average number of calls per hour was closer to 20.

Many of the 911 and nonemergency calls were for the same incidents, Lewis said.

From 5:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m., dispatchers sent Lawrence police officers to 78 calls, sheriff’s officers to 46 and Lawrence-Douglas County Fire Medical crews to 17.

In Lawrence, police handled four injury accidents and 50 where no one was injured.

Lewis said among the 46 calls in the county, sheriff’s deputies responded to 15 vehicle accidents. Seven of them did not involve injuries.

Of the eight injury accidents, several people were taken to area hospitals, but their injuries were not believed to be life-threatening.

According to fire and medical officials, one person was taken to Stormont-Vail Healthcare in Topeka in an accident west of Lawrence on U.S. Highway 40.

Further information, including names of the accident victims, was not available Thursday.

One five-vehicle accident on Kansas Highway 10 just east of Lawrence caused the westbound lanes of the highway to be closed for several hours Thursday evening.

Both lanes of travel after 5 p.m. were stopped for several hours on U.S. Highway 59 south of Lawrence due to another accident.

“Always stay alert and avoid distractions when driving,” Lewis said. “And use extra caution when winter weather adversely affects road conditions.”