Heavy downpours in the triad the past two weeks caused major problems for roads across the area. One of the biggest is sinkholes.
A sinkhole in Wilkesboro started forming last year. It's in a Taco Bell parking lot, and the store has been closed ever since. Now with all the rain this week, it's only gotten bigger.
Rockingham County saw two sinkholes pop up this July. First on highway 135 near Stoneville. The sinkhole swallowed up a section of an entire lane.
The other one formed this week on Webb Road in Madison. Three pipes burst underground causing the street to collapse.
Then on Thursday in Stokesdale, flooding washed out a private road in a neighborhood. It technically isn't a sinkhole, but what caused the road to wash out is exactly what formed all the sinkholes.
Sinkholes all stem from runoff water. It can be too much for drainage pipes to handle.
First, heavy rain starts to fall. If it's enough water, the pipe can get overwhelmed and burst.
Once the pipe is busted, water is free to flow, eroding the ground beneath the street. Eventually, there's nothing left to support it, and the road caves in causing the sinkhole.
Fixing sinkholes is a huge undertaking. Crews come out with heavy equipment to tackle the big holes in the ground.
To fix a sinkhole, the crew must first block off the roadways. No one in. No one out.
Next, they take out the busted pipe and install a new one.
Once complete, they need to fix all the erosion caused by the water. They get a bunch of stone and fill it in the empty spaces.
Then they lay down about 10 inches of asphalt, pave it, and the road is good to go.
The biggest issue here is none of the work can get done while it's raining. The North Carolina Department of Transportation says they will likely start work on Monday.
It's a different story for private roads, like the one in Stokesdale. The department cannot legally work on it. Private contractors will have to come in and do that work.
